Standing beside the pile of rubble under the hole in the ceiling was a figure, shrouded in shadow, except… The sun was high in the sky, shining brightly through the ceiling hole and fully illuminating everything below. The figure wasn’t shrouded in shadows; it was just completely black. Human in shape but with pitch-black skin—skin that flaked and peeled, revealing blackened bones beneath. It turned its head to look at Meleng with empty eye sockets.

“Feviona!”

Burn.

There was a brief hiss, and flames ignited all over the figure. It pointed with a burning arm and the fire shot forwards, straight towards Meleng.

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.

After a moment, the heat lessened and Feviona mouthed, “Run.” Then she kissed him on the cheek, let go of him, and leapt to her feet, spinning around as she did so, her wings spreading wide.

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.

The creature, its entire body still on fire, took a few steps forward, leaving glowing embers where it stepped, even setting some of the rubble on fire once more.

Feviona flew over top of it, her sword passing through its neck, decapitating it.

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.

Meleng didn’t waste any more time, moving as fast as he dared through this deathtrap of a warehouse. He did his best to keep remains of shelves, beams, and other rubble between him and the creature.

Burn.

He heard the hiss again and the whoosh of the flames shooting out, but they didn’t come towards him. With a grimace, he kept moving. He couldn’t afford to look back and see how Feviona was doing. He had to get out and get help.

It felt like forever. There were crashes behind him and the few times he caught a glimpse of something, he could see that the whole place was going up in flames again.

There was open space the last few yards to the entrance, so Meleng stood up to his full height and ran.

Burn.

The sound of that voice in his head was chilling amidst the intense heat around him. He dove through the open doorway just as flames shot over where he had just been.

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.

Up ahead, the harbourmaster pushed through the gathering crowd. “What the hell have you two done?”

“Not us, sir,” Meleng said. “I swear.” He finally allowed himself to look back.

The warehouse didn’t look too different from this angle, except smoke was pouring through the doors and flames were visible through the smoke. There was no indication what had made the crash, though Meleng suspected part of the warehouse that he couldn’t see from here had collapsed.

What about Feviona? Was she all right?

There she was! Flying above the warehouse, out of harm’s way for the moment.

“That man’s on fire!” someone yelled.

The fire creature, whatever it was, had come out of the warehouse and was walking slowly towards the quay.

“You! You!” the harbourmaster yelled. “Get blankets to smother flames! Go!”

“That’s not a man,” Meleng said.

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.”

“That’s not a man!” Meleng repeated, but the harbourmaster didn’t listen.

“You need to drop and smother the flames. We’re getting help.”

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.

All around, panic set in. People ran screaming. The harbourmaster turned round, his face pale. He stared for a moment, then shoved Meleng towards the creature and ran.

“Hey!” Meleng stumbled, but regained his footing. Then he, too, ran, calling out to the panicking people. “Water! We need water! Lots of it!”

But no one paid any attention to him.

Burn.

Again, the hiss and whoosh, but no flames hit Meleng. He didn’t even feel the heat from them, so the creature must have shot some other direction. There was no time to worry about who, if anyone, it had hit. They needed water. But they were in a harbour. There was a lot of water. It was just a matter of how to use it.

He ran to the quay.

Burn.

At the quay, there was panic too, but a few people were pulling up buckets of water from the harbour. Meleng ran over to them.

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

“No idea,” Meleng said, “but hopefully water will help.”

“We’ve sent word out to the ships,” the man said. “Hopefully, they can provide barrels of water. And we’ve got a pump coming.”

“We hope,” another man said. “That was before that creature appeared. If the people getting the pump saw it and panicked…”

“Thank the gods for that Isyar, though,” the first man 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.

“She’s distracting it, drawing it away from us,” Meleng said.

Sure enough, the creature turned and walked towards the warehouse.

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“How much water have you collected?” Meleng asked.

“We’ve got about a dozen buckets so far,” the first man said and pointed, “and those barrels over there.”

“Gather them all together. As close as you can, right by the edge of the quay.”

“They’re already pretty close together,” the man said.

“But right at the edge,” Meleng said. “Please, trust me.”

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.

“What are you doing?” one of the men asked.

“Taking a risk.” When he finished the last equation, he stood up, raised his hands, and began waving at Feviona. “All of you, get yourselves to safety now. You’ll want to be at least fifty feet away from here. Move!”

“You can’t bring it over here,” someone said. “The ships!”

“I know. Trust me, please. Feviona...the Isyar, I mean, already beheaded that thing and it just picked it up and put it back on. There’s only one way we’re going to stop that thing. Now please, go!”

A few people hesitated, but soon, they all ran, some stopping other people from coming closer to the area and guiding them away.

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.

If he could get Feviona’s attention. What she was doing was noble, but she would tire eventually. She was amazing, but even she couldn’t go forever, and Meleng doubted that creature would ever tire. He began jumping as he waved, and screaming her name.

After an eternity, she turned and flew in his direction.

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.

No, this had to work.

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.

Feviona flew straight towards it.

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.

The creature reached down and picked up its arm with its other one, and reattached 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.

When its latest blast scorched the top of the tallest barrel, he knew it was almost time.

Feviona landed in front of the buckets and barrels, and looked over towards Meleng. He nodded, and she leapt into the air again.

The creature also turned its head to look in his direction, but before it could do anything else, Meleng activated the spells.

With multiple loud cracks, the buckets and barrels split apart, spraying water out. Meleng smiled. He’d even gotten the explosive angles reasonably correct, so most of the water went directly in the creature’s direction.

Steam hissed around the creature as its flames diminished somewhat.

Meleng ran, or rather, mostly slid across the slippery surface of the quay. He crashed into the wooden splinters that were all that remained of the barrels, and fell over. He clawed at the quay and pulled himself onto his knees.

Nearby, the steam was clearing and flames were sprouting over the creature’s pitch-black form.

Moving as fast as he could, Meleng scribbled the equation onto the quay. Then he started to stand, but his gaze fell on the creature’s feet, and he hesitated.

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

Burn.

Feviona landed behind it, and with a single swipe, she beheaded it again. Its head fell forward and rolled nicely onto the quay right beside Meleng. He jumped to his feet and ran, just as Feviona kicked the creature onto the quay.

There was no time be sure he was far enough away, so Meleng activated the spell.

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.

It was strange. Recently, he’d had a lot of trouble being sure things around him were real. But he didn’t doubt the reality now. The cold was so intense, and it was soaking into his clothes—his thick, winter clothes—weighing him down.

Time slowed down.

Meleng lashed out, kicking about. Which way was up? Why was it so hard to tell?

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 Sinitïa. 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.

Something hit his side. He grabbed for it, but he couldn’t find it. Then something else hit him, and he grabbed that. It was slick and splintery. Flotsam from the quay perhaps? It wasn’t very big, but he held on to it. It should point up.

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.

Time sped up again.

“There he is! Man overboard!”

His vision was starting to clear. There was flotsam all around him, and he grabbed for one of the bigger pieces, letting go of the small one.

“Grab the lifebuoy, lad!”

Meleng clutched at the piece of plank he grabbed onto. Although it was reasonably large, the weight of his waterlogged clothes still pulled it down. Water splashed over his mouth and nose.

“The lifebuoy, lad! Grab it!”

He looked about. There it was—a thick cork ring with a rope attached—but it was some distance away. How was he supposed to get to it? If he let go of the plank, he’d surely drown.

“Get it closer to him!”

The rope went taught, pulling the ring up, back up to the deck of the nearby ship it had come from. Someone there grabbed it and threw it back again. This time, it landed closer.

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.

“He’s got it! Pull him up! Pull him up!”

Meleng clutched at the ring with all his strength, holding it against him as the people above pulled him first towards the ship, and then up the side. As his feet lifted out of the water, he wasn’t sure he could hold on any longer. He was so wet, so heavy, so cold, and the ring was wet and slick. It started to slip up his arm.

Then someone grabbed him. A warm body putting her arms around him from behind and lifting him up.

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.

“Take him to my cabin!” someone yelled. “Get him out of those clothes and get some dry blankets. We need to warm him up! Move it.”

As a pair of crewmembers lifted him up, Meleng reached out for Feviona’s hand and gave it a quick squeeze before they carried him away.