Chapter 3

It was that certainty that saved our lives. That, and Nightbreeze's quick thinking later on. I picked her up, she was still light despite that she now had a real woman's body, and held her in my arms as I half climbed, half dragged us over the taffrail.

Then there was a sense of weightlessness before my feet hit the water and my chin hit the top of the woman's head with such a force that I bit my tongue badly. Blood flowed in my mouth as we went under before we, after frantically trashing my legs, broke the surface again. I had no time to check on Nightbreeze, I only put my arms around her waist and started to pedal towards the shore. The ship had been hugging land all through the voyage, and I had a hope of making it the shore. I certainly did not intend to wait for the Ginger to arrive and the firedancer to kindly help us out of our predicament with his flameknife.

I swam and swam, trying to keep calm and work methodically. The sea was not too difficult, warm and with long, lazy waves, but our clothes were heavy and wet and they hampered me. I could feel Nightbreeze stirring in my arms and saw the Ginger approaching, still some distance off.

I heard men jumping overboard, cursing or crying for help. Then there passed a blinding light and heat above my head, and suddenly all the cries were stilled as, with a tremendous roar of fire, the dragon incinerated the ship. The flare of the dragon's fiery body as it exploded in a terrible fireball was brighter than a thousand suns. The next sound was that of burning wood, a sad, sad sound accompanied by the smells of the fire. Wood, tar, hemp, and other, more horrible stinks.

High above, caught by the wind, there flew one of the sails, a single relic of a now dead ship. It trashed here and there, and I swore when I saw it heading for us. I tried to veer away, but the blasted thing made a final turn on the wind and fell straight down onto my head, covering us completely.

"Let's stay put until they leave," I heard Nightbreeze whisper as I spluttered and caught hold of the fabric. It did not smell burned; the fire of the dragon must have blasted off the ropes that it had been fastened with.

"Huh?" I said.

"By the Kings I am weary!" she groaned and grabbed the sail. It was dark, but some measure of sunlight was seeping through. "But there was enough strength in me. Barely."

"You mean you did this?" Our heads were almost submerged in the water beneath the sail, but it floated both itself and us.

"Of course."

"Why?" I asked incredulously. I wanted to swim to the shore, not be trapped under here, unable to see the Ginger and feeling my strength ebb away.

I soon understood why. The reason involved a man with a bow and arrows and cries of help turning into screams for mercy and cursing in vain. It went on for an infinity while we stayed completely still, not daring to speak or move. There was nothing we could do to save them.

Then, at last, a gruff voice said: "I think we got them all. Three guys that sort of matched him you looking for, I daresay. And two women alive and two burned. Bad business with the kids, though."

"Bad business and good pay," I heard the firedancer say, and they had to be really close to us for me to hear them this well. Now I wished I had killed the filth when I had the chance. "Your House does not want any witnesses to tell the tale. And you, you do as you are told, all right?"