Tommen had gone to sleep next to the boiler, as his hammock is near a vent, and so was almost always too cold. The constant rhythm of the engines almost completely drowned out the sounds of men shoveling coal, but that didn’t mean Tommen always got great rest down here. Creighton had made a routine out of bringing him back upstairs and tucking him in once he’d fallen asleep. Awoken by the ship’s whistle, Tommen found he was still in the boiler space, And there were no crewmen working the boiler. Creighton was sitting with his back to the hull, not far from where Tommen had been sleeping. Tommen had practiced stimulating the manastructure of Creighton’s eyes after the last time he’d run out of mana, but when his attempts failed to elicit a response, he went to try and find someone else to help. When he passed in front of the boiler, he saw the whistle’s pull cord was snagged on a valve.

The first person he found was Fredrak, who was passed out next to the engine, his hammer still in hand. After working up the courage to manhandle someone of noble blood, Tommen succeeded in waking him up with an only minimal amount of shaking.

“Tommen? What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, someone left the whistle pulled, and when it woke me up everyone was gone.”

“Something was putting everyone to sleep, and I managed to bring most of the workers up a level. Where is Creighton?”

“Whatever was putting people to sleep must have affected him too, as I couldn’t wake him up.”

“I didn’t think Soulsteel could sleep?”

“Normally he just sort of stops if he runs out of mana, but I gave him more than enough t-”

The whole ship shook, and the sound of snapping ropes was followed by a monstrous roar. The two of them hurried over to Creighton.

“If he already has plenty, what else is there to try?”

“If it’s not too little mana, could it be too much?”

“Soulsteel can’t ever have too much mana, can it?.”

“It could be too much of a specific type. Whenever he got too much chaos and light mana, he’d get really restless.”

“How do we get mana back out of him? The only thing I can think of that might work is my hammer.”

They were both rather hesitant to try hitting Creighton with literal oblivion, but as the combat on the topdeck grew more intense, Fredrak charged up the enchantment, and put the hammer down.

~~~

I felt too cold to sleep, but at the same time I was too tired to get back up and turn the heat on. It was like someone had draped me in freezing bedsheets, as I could still see the occasional flash of light, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do anything. It wasn’t until there was a sudden weight that drove the breath out of me that the frigid blanket that had been surrounding me shattered.

I opened my eyes to Tommen and Fredrak standing over me, sweat running down both of their faces. The mana in the air still held a biting edge, but now that I focused on keeping it out, I could feel the physical warmth of my surroundings. The two of them didn’t know what was going on, but they did know something was attacking the ship, so I told Tommen to wake up more of the crew, while Fredrak and I would go see what was going on upstairs.

I took the ladders two steps at a time, climbing the first, second and then third decks as fast as I could. When I got to the top, stepping onto the deck felt like I had just walked outside in freezing weather while I was still half naked. I nearly bumped into a statue of Deuin, and when I focused my eyes on him, I could see he was suffused with the same dusty blue mana that the Galefast was currently awash with.

The rigging was a mess, and next to the mainmast was Leona, Larrik and Vannessa. Other statues littered the deck, most of them having been hiding in cover from something on the port side. Larrik seemed to have some kind of wound which Leona was tending to. While I was still trying to take in the situation, Vannessa started pointing at the starboard side. As I turned to look, a scaled head appeared, followed shortly by the rest of a huge gray dragon. Larrik and Leona were not in cover from its, and it was rearing back to breathe fire at them. I wasn’t about to let it though, so I poured mana into my legs and jumped for its neck.

I was able to break through its scales, but I couldn’t manage to steal its mana. When I tried the chill started creeping back in and before I’d even gotten through an eighth of its capacity, and I started getting tunnel vision. It seemed to have far more mana than the wyvern had, and it was almost all blue. The first step to my backup plan was to wrap it in chains. I wasn’t trying to restrict its movements, so it wouldn’t be able to flex out of them. Despite how it kept trying to shake me off, I could hold my entire weight with just one finger, so I wasn’t going anywhere. Next I shifted the chain into barbed wire and I cinched it as tightly as I could. Hundreds of small cuts were gouged into its hide, and its wings were now riddled with long ragged holes. It made one last lunge at the ship, but I increased my density, as I wasn't going to let it try and take anyone down with it.

~~~

Leona had been too busy with Larrik to participate actively in the fight, so Vannessa had been trying to keep its attention off of them. She was in a unique position to resist falling asleep, and while she didn’t stand a chance of landing a lethal blow on the dragon, she could avoid its tail strikes and petrifying breath. That status quo fell apart, as it lost interest in her, and retreated back over the topside. While she was searching for where the dragon would next strike from, Vanessa noticed Creighton, who had just emerged from the forecastle.

She felt the dragon raking the underside of the hull, so she focused Creighton’s attention to the starboard side. Before she could start trying to move Leona and Larrik into better cover, the Gray Dragon had returned, and Creighton took off for it like an arrow.

He had been standing still, appearing almost dumbstruck until he saw the dragon. His face had almost imperceptibly hardened, perhaps even literally, before he’d leapt straight at it. She’d been only able to watch as he jammed his sharpened arm deep into the dragon’s throat. Dragonhide was prized as armor, and even multiple sheets of steel couldn’t compare to its durability. Vanessa took a brief second to glance around the deck, and saw that Fredrak had arrived, but just like her he also couldn’t do anything to help.

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Creighton was remarkably adept at using his chains to dodge the dragon’s attacks, like a monkey might swing from vines. He could seemingly perfectly control himself, Vanessa guessed the reason why was because the chains were just another part of him. It reacted to his rapid progress by pushing off of the ship, and violently thrashing about in mid air. This only accelerated the rate that Creighton was going, and after a few final passes over the wings, he planted his feet on the dragon’s spine.

As Creighton heaved on the long chain, it seemed to contract like a muscle, with sharp barbs growing out and then digging into its flesh. It made one last swipe for the ship, but it dropped like a rock out of Vannessa’s sight. She ran to the ship’s rail, having to briefly dodge out of the way of a silver grappling hook. When she looked down she could only barely make out a gray blob that was now descending in a spiral. The hook embedded in the rail was connected to a thin silver line, which disappeared into the darkness below. Vanessa was bewildered as the rope started to widen, and then the hook caught on the topside transformed into a hand. She grabbed Creighton’s new arm and helped him make it the last few feet aboard, before he then turned back around and started retching.

Her initial assumption had been that it was normal motion sickness, as he’d just been swinging wildly, fallen for an unknown distance, caught himself, and then made it all the way back up to the Galefast. However she soon dispensed with this idea, as he was throwing up gray snow. When his skin returned to the marble texture he’d had for the last four days, Vanessa just chalked it up as some weird magic shit. Not knowing if it would actually help, she slapped Creighton on the back a few times to try and help him get whatever it was out.

~~~

Cole had woken up just long enough to realize something was wrong, but had then passed back out. He didn’t wake up again until Tommen and Natasha came to shake him awake, and it took him a second to gather his wits.

“What happened?”

“Leona says it was a dragon. Like a proper dragon.”

“An adult dragon?”

“Yeah, right Tommen?”

“That is what she said.”

“Is everyone alive?”

“A few people are still petrified, but no one fell overboard, or got eaten.”

“I see. Where is Leona, I’ll need to talk to her and Rodney.”

“They’re both on the aftcastle. Rodney and Eugene sent us to find you.”

Tommen and Natasha didn’t come with him, as they were going to check on the ship’s balance next. Cole found Leona on the topdeck, using Creighton’s mana to cure petrification. Mages could use living metal like a massive manabead, but it was less efficient than using one’s own, and by using foreign mana a mage would rapidly exhaust their stamina. Vanessa was helping the restored crewmen down into the ship.

“What happened to Deuin?”

“He broke its silence spell, but he still got caught in its breath.”

“Did you kill it then, Creighton?”

“Not sure. Torn up, fell down.”

“So you didn’t chop its head off or do anything particularly lethal?”

“No, many small cuts. Ruined wings.”

“Good work then, and thank you. Is it true there aren’t any fatalities?”

“Some people toppled over after getting petrified, so they’re going to need some stronger restoration spells, but no. No deaths.”

“Are you sure it was an adult dragon?”

“I mean, it was large enough to be one, but I can’t discount the chance it was just big for its age.”

“How long has it been since you drove it off?”

“Less one hour?”

“I see. I’m going to go talk to Rodney, you should teach Creighton a restoration spell. He’ll be more efficient than you, and then you can give yourself a rest.”

“Deuin is the last one I’m doing for now, everyone else lost a few fingers or a limb, so they need to be put back together first.”

“How far along are the repairs on the rigging?”

“Ask Rodney, I haven’t been paying attention.”

The stair up to the wheel was short, and Rodney was currently the man at the helm, as the helmsman normally on duty was currently made of stone. Eugene and Fredrak were both talking to Lieutenant Hardridge, and Rodney was busy coordinating his crew.

“What are those three talking about?”

“They’re debating if we should turn back or not.”

“Is the damage that bad?”

“No, they’re mostly arguing about if the dragon will come back.”

“I thought Creighton hurt it pretty badly?”

“Fredrak claims that dragons can heal themselves, and Hardridge is afraid it’ll be in the mood for another round if so.”

“Creighton should be able to severely outrange it.”

“Go tell them that.”