With a roar, a red dragon nearly crashed directly into Fel's yacht, but Fel whacked it with a greatsword about as big as herself, batting it aside long enough for her airs.h.i.+p to slip past. She took one glance at the chaos ensuing all around them and shook her head.

She called out to Sir Jared, still battling three dragons on deck. "Chief! We gotta go!"

"No! I will not abandon s.h.i.+p! I will stand my ground to the bitter end!" Sir Jared proclaimed bravely in a voice like thunder. "To the very last!"

"Okay, bye!" Fel replied cheerily, and her airs.h.i.+p zipped away from the thick of the fighting.

Sir Jared spluttered, but then a concerted charge by two dragons bowled him over and he went rolling right off the deck of his airs.h.i.+p.

Stubbornly, he pulled a little grappling hook from his belt and threw that over the deck railing. He tugged himself back onto the deck, dashed over to where he'd dropped his sword, and took it up again. "You will not move ME!"

The third dragon crashed into him with a roar and knocked him back, but he slammed his blade into the deck itself, steadying his footing, and roared back. "I shall stand until the end!!"

Fel observed from afar as they made their way to safety. "You know, I think a s.h.i.+eld would work better in his case."

"Or a cannon." Mindy said thoughtfully. "A cannon would work better on flying targets."

"Everyone's a critic." Fel's maid rolled her eyes. "Shall I set the table for dinner again?"

"Not yet." Fel said, taking the airs.h.i.+p in a tight turn. "Not until we're clear…"

RIP! The sounds of something tearing brought their gazes up. There above them was a glowy little dragon tearing into the airs.h.i.+p's envelope.

[Darian…] Mindy grimaced. [I'm on this airs.h.i.+p, you know.]

[Of course I know. Why do you think I'm sinking it?] Darian pointed out.

[Great. Just great.] Mindy sighed. [Sunk by my own rescuer.]

"We're going down!!" Fel's maid yelped, as Fel leapt up and swung her sword at the dragon Silhouette.

"Everyone hang on!" Fel barked, struggling to keep the s.h.i.+p under control. It teetered to one side, and Mindy half-expected the whole thing to spiral, but Fel held on with a death grip, white-knuckled, and…

The s.h.i.+p spiraled out of control anyway.

"Waaaaa…!" Fel's yacht dropped out of the sky in a tight circle accompanied by the wail of Fel's maid.

***

Meanwhile, Sir Fate was trying to reach Sir Jared despite all the fighting. The flags.h.i.+p was already burning, half its envelopes torn apart, more than half its gondola broken and tilting to one side. Sir Jared was trying to fight off a fourth dragon on top of the previous three now, and doing so with only one hand because he needed to hold on to the railing with the other. "Back! GET BACK!"

But he was only one man and it was a big airs.h.i.+p. He could only cover so much of it.

Fate narrowed his eyes and raised one hand. Psionic energy coalesced into a bolt in front of his palm, and then shot out, slamming into the nearest dragon…

The dragon snarled, and narrowed its eyes. A similar Psionic bolt formed in between its horns and blasted right back at Sir Fate. The two bolts collided in mid-air and splashed into nothingness simultaneously.

"Nope. Not going to work." Fate grunted, and drew a Sigil in the air. "Lightning!"

Out of the clear sky, a streak of electric current flashed. It jolted the targeted dragon, causing it to flinch…

And that was all.

"That's it?!" Sir Fate was incredulous. "Just one flinch?!"

The dragon roared back, sending a veritable curtain of sonic energy onto the deck of Sir Fate's airs.h.i.+p.

"Haah!" Sir Fate shouted back, countering sonic energy with his own shout…

BOOM! The dragon's roar blasted right through Sir Fate's shout and slammed into everyone on deck.

"Guaah!" Sir Fate's crew went flying like pins in a bowling alley.

Strike! No, wait, Sir Fate himself was still standing. Spare!

The dragon eyed him then angled for a second shot...

But then another dragon swept in and physically hauled Sir Fate off his own airs.h.i.+p in its claws.

[Hey! I was going to hit that!] the dragon roared in protest.

[Too slow!] the girl dragon scolded.

[Fine…] The first dragon grumbled, and went back to the business of tearing up Sir Fate's airs.h.i.+p.

Meanwhile, Sir Fate was trying to slash his greatsword into a dragon that was dragging him straight up into the sky with enough velocity to black out most normal knights. "Why… did they… have to make… my sword… so heavy?!"

[It's not that heavy.] the girl dragon said modestly. [But I guess this is high enough.]

"High enough for what?" Sir Fate asked.

And then he wished he hadn't.

The dragon dropped him. [Whoops! Actually, no…]

"Uwaaaa…!" Sir Fate fell out of the sky with a yell of almost the same tone and pitch as Fel's maid.

***

At that time, Lady Knight d.a.m.naith was sitting gloomily in a gunner's chair trying to angle for a shot from a sinking airs.h.i.+p.

"We're going down." She said gloomily to an empty station. Everyone else had already fled and abandoned s.h.i.+p, but she still sat there still trying to shoot something, all by herself.

Around that point, the ammunition caught fire and exploded. There was a terrible shake, and then the s.h.i.+p's descent really sped up.

Despite the obvious fall, d.a.m.naith didn't look scared or even particularly excited. She just looked melancholic. "We're all gonna die. It's so sad."

The world spun around her. The entire gunnery section broke apart, ordinance scattering in all directions and exploding more often than not. One of those explosions actually set her on fire.

"Ow." d.a.m.naith said in a steady, slow voice as she slapped out the fire calmly. "I guess this is the end. Goodbye, cruel world…"

Then there was a terrible cras.h.i.+ng sound as the airs.h.i.+p met the ground and the wreckage blew apart in a spectacular series of explosions.

***

Fel's airs.h.i.+p fared little better. It, too, crashed around the same time, along with Jared and d.a.m.naith on their flags.h.i.+p, and Sir Fate fell right out of the sky.

In rapid succession, the Sure-Die Trio and Sir Jared all reached the ground in rather violent and uncomfortable ways.

Slowly, the dust began to settle.

"Is everyone okay?" Fel asked indiscriminately.

Multiple groans answered her.

"This is disaster! Disaster!" one maid shrieked.

Fel's first maid lowered her head. "Sira Fel, I'm sorry. I can't set the table for dinner."

"Why not?" Fel asked.

"All the dishes are broken."

"AARGH!!" This proclamation was accompanied by a furious roar from Sir Jared. Not to imply that it was in any way connected to the fate of the dishes.

Speaking of Fate, Sir Fate himself was stuck headfirst in the ground nearby, half-buried up to his waist. One foot twitched sideways.

"Just use napkins or carve out wooden dishes or something." Fel sighed. "And this time, set the table for five. My teacher and fellow disciples will be joining us, it seems. But wash up first, you and the others."

"Yes, Sira Fel." The maid bowed, her face still charred.

"Knights, anyone who can still stand, help me get Sir Fate out of the ground." Fel strenuously pulled herself to her feet. "And somebody, go call Sira d.a.m.naith for dinner!"

"Um… where is she?" one of the knights asked.

"She's still sitting in the middle of the wreckage." Fel grimaced. "Go get her to come over before she starts burying herself."