“Dragon-dog,” Beka explained. “One and the same. But he’s really outclassed. The only reason he’s lasted this long is because he is smaller and more agile. If Hayreddin can get close enough to do some real damage, Chewie is toast.” Her normally cheerful face was etched with worry, her blue eyes clouded. “He’s buying us time, so we’d better make the most of it. Besides,” she gestured around them, “if we don’t get off this ship, we’re going to be toast too. Literally.”
Alexei handed a still shaky Bethany off to Beka. “I’ll be right back,” he said, and ran toward the flames. Bethany saw him reach down to scoop something up and then he raced back. “Here,” he said, thrusting the amulet into Beka’s hands. “If we get out alive, I suspect the queen is going to want to take a look at this.”
Bethany looked around. “I don’t see a lifeboat or a dingy. Any suggestions?”
“We swim for it,” Alexei said grimly. He pointed at a ship hovering at a safe distance from the inferno the one they were currently on had become. “That’s your father’s boat. Do you think you can make it that far?”
Bethany shuddered at the thought of how cold the ocean water was going to be at this time of the year, but she hadn’t grown up as a fisherman’s daughter for nothing. “Race you,” she said, and dived off the side of the boat. Beka dove in gracefully to join her, and a moment later, Alexei yelled “Geronimo!” and cannonballed into the ocean with a huge splash that almost swamped the two women.
“You’re an idiot,” Beka said in a fond tone. Then they all swam like hell.
*
Alexei let Beka climb the ladder up the side of The Flora MacDonald first, then boosted Bethany a little more forcefully than he intended (“again, OW”) before heaving his own chilled wet body onto the deck. Damn, that water was cold. Teeth chattering, Bethany grabbed them all some blankets from a metal locker and slung hers over her shoulders.
“Is that my father?” she asked, looking up at the sound of cheering from the cabin. “What the hell is he doing here?”
“His daughter, his boat,” Alexei said with a shrug. “Where else would he be?” He fought the impulse to enfold Bethany’s shivering body in his own, rapidly warming one. He might not be a Rider anymore, but he still had the metabolism of one. It should be good for something besides drinking massive quantities of beer. But he didn’t want to hurt her. Again. And he wasn’t sure he could let go of her once he got his arms around her for real.
“Besides, he earned the right. He actually got himself into his wheelchair and came charging in to join us when we were planning your rescue. The only way we could have left him behind was if we had tied him down.” Alexei glanced at Bethany’s bloody wrists and cursed himself for his choice of words. He was an idiot, as usual.
But she didn’t seem to notice as she gave him a huge grin and ran up to see her father.
Beka gave him an affectionate smack on the shoulder. “Dude, I didn’t think you could be any more socially awkward than you were already, but it turns out I was wrong. You’re cute when you’re in love.”
“Oh, shush,” Alexei said, feeling his face heat. “Anyway, we have bigger problems.” He pointed at the sky, where Chewie was clearly beginning to lose the battle. Hayreddin’s larger size and sheer power were starting to wear down the smaller dragon. Burn marks marred the aqua blue wing on Chewie’s right side, and his swooping dives were becoming slightly off-kilter.
Beka clenched her fingers into Alexei’s arm. “Hang on, Chewie,” she whispered. “Hang on.” Tears mixed with seawater on her face.
“It’s not going well, is it?” Bethany said quietly as she rejoined them, moving to stand on Alexei’s other side.
He just shook his head, peering up into the clouds as he tried to make out the two opponents as they flew intricate maneuvers around one another.
“What happens if your dragon loses?’ she asked Beka.
Beka drew her blanket more tightly around her shoulders. “I try and remember all the anti-fire spells I know while Hayreddin does his best to burn us to a cinder.” Her normally cheerful attitude seemed to have been washed away by their swim, or the circumstances, or both.
But Alexei spotted something he was pretty sure would bring it back. “Hey, look! I think your help arrived just in time.”
Bethany’s mouth gaped open as she saw yet a third dragon flying overhead, this one a vivid ruby red creature so large, he dwarfed even Hayreddin. The new arrival arrowed in from the direction of the Cape, then dive-bombed the black and yellow dragon, hitting it so hard it pin-wheeled through the sky.
“Who the hell is that?” Bethany said. “He’s…glorious.”
“Koshei,” Beka and Alexei said in unison. Beka sounded positively gleeful.
“He’s an old friend of my sister Baba Yaga, Barbara,” Beka explained. “I knew he’d come if I asked him to; I just wasn’t sure he’d get the word in time.”
“Friend,” Alexei said with a wink. “And occasional lover, until Barbara met her husband Liam. He’s always had a soft spot for the Baba Yagas.”
There was a thud and the boat shook as a blue and green dragon half-flew, half-fell out of the air. Its shape shimmered and flowed until a large, somewhat battered black Newfoundland dog stood in its place.
“Crap,” he said. “Do you think he could have cut it any closer?” But his mouth lolled open in a doggy grin, and he reached up to lick Beka’s face when she ran over to check him out. “I’m fine, I’m fine. Honestly, it’s the most fun I’ve had in a century.” He winced as her hand found a sore spot. “You know, now that it’s over.”
And it was definitely over. Chewie had already done a good job of wearing Hayreddin out; Koshei pressed his opponent relentlessly, pursuing him with claws and teeth and sheer overwhelming mass until finally the crimson dragon bore the black and yellow one down to hover helplessly over the deck of The Flora MacDonald.
“Change,” Beka demanded, her long blonde hair whipping back and forth in the wind created by the wings of two dragons. She suddenly sounded like the powerful witch she actually was, her voice resonant with threat. “Change into your Human form, Hayreddin, or I will let Koshei tear your throat out.”
One ruby-tipped silver claw set itself not-quite-gently in the black dragon’s thorax, in case it hadn’t gotten the message.
The dragon shimmered, its outline wavering and blurring until the mythical beast disappeared and the man with the uneven gray hair and golden earring stood in its place, one arm still held in the grip of the red dragon’s talons, and blood dripping from a dozen small wounds.
“Curse you, Baba Yaga,” the pirate said with a grimace. “You damn witches are always interfering.”
“Well, that’s kind of in our job description,” Beka said in a milder tone. But she pulled a set of handcuffs out of her the bag she’d brought on board and snapped them around Hayreddin’s wrists with a decisive click that belied her calm exterior.
“What good is that going to do?” Bethany asked. “Can’t he just turn back into a dragon and break them?”