While Sirius sprung into action, helping with the preparations of the other men, Amanda made her way to the very end of the aft deck where she could watch the approaching ship.

  Stinger, Larska, Ferret, and Randy joined her. She listened to them talk among themselves, making plans and discussing strategy as if the pirates boarding them were a sure thing.

  Indeed, it seemed like they were right. As Amanda watched, the ship in the distance grew larger and ever closer. It was hard to tell its size for sure but she didn’t think it was much bigger than this one. The sail shapes were similar, each one full to the brim with air. And down near the bow of the boat, it looked almost lifted up, as if the sea itself were helping speed it along. Water elementals perhaps? Surely if they were using magic then she could too? She eyed those brilliant white sails. Just a little closer and she might be able to set them on fire. But Sirius had said no magic.

  She glanced around to check for where he was but she saw no sign of him. There was only Stinger and Morgan’s three lovers, Larska, Ferret, and Randy, standing nearby.

  “I wouldn’t mind a chance to give them a taste of their own steel,” Randy was saying to the others. He was still wearing the sunglasses and despite his words, he sounded far too relaxed.

  Was this just an everyday event for all of them then? Were the last few days just their normal? It hadn’t been quite this chaotic back on Sirius’s ship.

  “Easy Randy,” Larska put a comforting hand on Randy’s shoulder, although his words were tense and full of battle-lust. “Their captain’s no green-foot and only one man I know has ever managed to beat him in single combat. While a fight might be nice, it won’t be without blood.”

  “We flee like cowards,” Randy snarled.

  “It buys us time,” Stinger replied. His eyes never left the pursuing ship.

  Ferret nodded and grabbed Larska and Randy around waists, pulling them both in tight in a conspiratorial manner. “This battle won’t be won by force. We need to be clever.” With that he released them and headed away toward the centre of the ship with the determination of a man who had a plan.

  “What’s the Slicer’s Captain’s name?” Amanda asked, hoping it wasn’t as terrifying sounding as ‘The Slicer’.

  “I believe they call him The Butcher,” Stinger replied.

  “Brian the Butcher,” added Larska with a wry smile. “His name’s Brian. It don’t matter what he’s called though. He’s nearly 7 feet tall and quick as a badger. He’ll cut through you before you can even blink.”

  “You said someone had beaten him once before?”

  Stinger nodded. “A man you’ve met.”

  “Sirius?” Amanda asked.

  Stinger shook his head. “Shiv.”

  Amanda turned back to look at the approaching ship. Even in the brief time she’d been turned away, it had managed to creep much closer. If they caught up would there be a fight? Would it go the same as when Morgan had chased that other ship? Only would they be on the receiving end this time? Amanda thought of how Morgan had killed some of the men on that ship. Would these pirates do the same to them?

  Amanda decided then and there that if it came to it she wouldn’t let that happen. She’d fight them with her fire if she had to. And it was better surely if they did not board at all. Those starch white sails were closer now, much bigger targets. Once more her eyes found the waterline. Yes, they definitely had water elementals. That didn’t bother her though. She knew she could burn the sea if she had to. If steel was no match for her magic, water sure as hell wasn’t. But what else did they have? What else could they have that would prove a threat to her?

  But still she worried. Sirius had been so quick to suggest she use her fire on the dragon. If it was a good idea now then why wasn’t he suggesting it again? Maybe she should ask Stinger?

  But when she turned to speak to him again, she found he was gone. Only Randy remained now, leaning forward over the railing, looking eagerly at their enemy as if he wanted them to reach them.

  “You guys wouldn’t fight a battle with magic right?” she asked hesitantly.

  He glanced at her and shrugged. “We don’t really have a lot of it. Gully’s probably our best witch and you saw what happened to Miles.” He scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Granted, that could be useful as an attack I suppose. As long as no one on our side was nearby. He’s not very predictable with it but it would be disorienting at least. He could probably only manage relocating a few people though, and it always brings them closer, not further away.”

  “What about the belly of a ship?” Amanda asked.

  “Ah,” Randy caught her meaning. Again he shrugged. “He has to know what it looks like.”

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  “The front then. You can see that from here.” She pointed.

  Another shrug. “Maybe.”

  “Why not?”

  He scratched the dark stubble on his chin “Morgan doesn’t really like fighting with magic. There’s rules and stuff. And there is a good chance they’re better than us at that.”

  ‘Not better than me,’ Amanda thought as she eyed those white sails. “What if I just set their ship on fire from here? They wouldn’t even necessarily know it was me.”

  Randy considered it for awhile. “Sure, but if you’re gonna do that, you should make sure you burn the whole ship. Leave no survivors.”

  He said it casually but the idea of it sent chills through her whole body. A whole crew of people? How many lives was that? Surely not all of them deserved that, and certainly not by fire. She’d just meant to burn the sails, to slow them down.

  The ship was close enough now that she could see figures running across the deck. Even the idea she’d had of summoning out a piece of the bow seemed wrong now. If they sunk out here, they’d likely drown or die some equally horrible way, starvation or hypothermia. But nor could she let them board.

  A glance back in Randy’s direction showed that he too had vanished into another part of the ship now.

  Shouts were going up all across the deck to prepare to boarded.

  From somewhere she heard Sirius call out her name, but he sounded far away.

  She couldn’t tear her eyes from the incoming ship. It was larger than Morgan’s and coming in fast. It wouldn’t be long before it caught them. If she was going to put her plan into action, it was now or never.

  She focused on the sails and reached within herself. She imagined them heating up, starting to char, and then suddenly they were alight.

  From this distance it was hard to control her fire, but it didn’t matter, as long as she kept it high and mostly away from the figures in the rigging. She didn’t want to sink them or kill anyone. She just needed to slow them down. They had water elementals so she knew they could put the fire out, and they would have spares if not a materiokinetc. She just needed them to be distracted for awhile.

  Sirius reached her then, breathing heavily like he’d been running. “What are you doing?” he asked, thankfully sounding more curious than annoyed.

  “I’m burning their sails. Trying to slow them down and distract them. They don’t know it’s magic.”

  He didn’t reply. But as they both watched it became obvious that it wasn’t working. Sure, it was distracting the sailors on deck, but it wasn’t slowing the ship at all.

  And then out of the sea, between them and the other ship rose a great wave. It loomed up and over them and it reminded Amanda of the one they’d sailed up and over after the kraken’s attack, only this one was much larger. And it didn’t break, not immediately.

  It hung above them, pushing forward like a giant watery jaw. Held up by magic and ready to swallow them whole.

  There would be no flying above this one and once it fell, she knew they would not be able to outrun it.

  “I think they know we’re using magic,” Sirius remarked, his voice tense but steady.

  “It’s no problem,” Amanda replied, ignoring the sinking feeling in her stomach that things weren’t quite going as planned. They evidently had quite a good water elemental. It didn’t matter though. She could handle this.

  She raised her hands and she sent forth more fire, a giant ball of it, hot enough to split the wave in two.

  The wave passed them right by, collapsing on either side in an almighty crash that would have sunk they ship had they been beneath it. It’s after-waves careened out and covered the rest of the sea in foam.

  But their little ship stood steady. They could not touch her.

  Her confidence grew. She smiled and looked out at the pirate’s vessel, ready and certain that she could handle whatever came next.

  From behind the fallen wall of water, the ship appeared right on their tail.

  A flying chunk of something suddenly went sailing overhead, clipping the mast and sending splinters flying everywhere. Then another.

  Telekinetics on their own ship fought back, and for a time Amanda could do nothing but dodge debris.

  “Sirius!” someone else shouted, calling him away for aid elsewhere.

  One moment he was at her side and the next he was gone.

  She turned, trying to see where he had disappeared off too but the deck was chaos, and enemy ship was already pulling up alongside. Ropes were thrown, men were boarding. She could hear gunshots ringing out.

  Keeping low, Amanda fixated on those sails again. If she could burn most of the other ship, it would keep them over there fighting the fire instead of fighting the crew of The Wolverine.

  But this time when she called upon her fire, something felt different.

  Similar to when she’d used the firestarting infusement back on the island, it felt like her magic wasn’t entirely her own anymore. Someone was fighting for control. No worse than that, someone intended for their to be no control at all.

  It was just like when she’d been a kid and her flames had had a mind of their own. Fire wanted to burn, anything it could reach. It hungered and it consumed anything and everything it touched. It jumped from one ship to the other. It worked it’s way down the mast, setting the deck alight. Setting people alight.

  “No!” Amanda struggled to hold it back. Fought to put it out. But someone fought her and fire was so much easier to spread than it was to smother.

  Frantically, she searched for the source behind this hijacking, among flames that lit the deck and people screaming out in agony. There she found him, a simple looking man, crouched on the railing, sitting quite still, and looking directly at her with a smile on his face. Shadows danced in his eyes. Reflected glints of light from the flames. Her flames.

  He was a borrower. That much she knew. He could not control the fire better than her. Borrowers never could cast as well as the person they borrowed from. But he didn’t need to. He was trying to control the fire. He was encouraging it. Feeding the flames took a fraction of the energy anything else did.

  She tried to direct it, but still it grew. The deck was consumed in orange and red so hot she couldn’t get near it.

  She was forced backward until she was right up against the railing. Beneath her the ship creaked and groaned and splintered.

  The sounds of fighting had turned to shouts of despair and the air was filled the scent of flesh cooking.

  Where was Sirius?

  He had gone that way. Was he in there? In that inferno?

  She turned back toward the borrower, and she watched him stand and leap back across to his own ship. He was laughing. His own ship was burning up as quick as this one and still he laughed.

  She turned her flames on him. They cooked him quickly, too fast and hot for him to even scream. And then she focused on trying to quell the fire. But it was too late, too big. It had reached the hull.

  The ship started to sink.