He had sworn guardianship to Leshil and his companions. His first duty was to protect them, and the ship was on fire. But when he saw the elven woman vanish into the sea, his heart seemed to stop.

He was Anmaglahk, sworn to protect his people. He could not let her die.

Sgaile broke the sea's rolling surface and gasped for air, but in his mind, he kept seeing Magiere's face up on the deck.

Eyes black, lost in vicious madness-the same monster that had attacked his caste in Cuirin'nen'a's glade. Even though he had sworn guardianship, his first instinct had been to kill her. Then he saw Wynn and Leshil on the deck's far side, dodging falling pieces of the burning sails.

Osha ran for them, shouting. "Go! I will protect them!"

And Sgaile had jumped.

The sea swells made it hard to search. Everything was beyond his control but the woman who had been dropped to her death. He only hoped she had stayed calm enough to flatten herself and float until he could find her.

Wynn gasped for air and coughed amid the growing smoke. Terrifying sights and sounds drove away reason, and all she could see was the horror of the burning ship.

A living ship.

Some of the crew tried to douse the fire with buckets of seawater, but spattered oil and falling sails kept feeding the flames.

And then Sgaile jumped overboard.

Wynn looked frantically about. Magiere knelt on the deck's far side beyond the cargo grate, but she couldn't see Chap anywhere. Elven crew ran about amid the flames, and a sizzling crackle sounded from up in the rigging.

And Leesil's shout carried to Wynn over the noise. "Magiere! Get out of there!"

He bolted toward Magiere, and Wynn saw the burning foremast crack midway up. It began to topple.

"Leesil, stop!" she screamed out.

He leaped the cargo gate. Rigging and shredded sails tore away under the falling mast as it slammed down on the deck's center-and Leesil vanished from sight.

"Leesil!" Wynn cried out.

Two sudden impacts, like shattering glass, struck somewhere on the deck, and a wall of flame erupted around the fallen mast. Droplets of ignited oil splashed up like fiery fountains and scattered everywhere.

Wynn twisted away, swatting at burning oil spots on her cloak. In one flailing spin, she saw Osha.

He ran along the shoreside rail-wall, the glint of a stiletto in his hand. Before Wynn knew what was happening, he ducked and drove his shoulder into her chest. His arm coiled around her as the breath was crushed from her lungs.

Wynn gasped for air as her feet left the deck. Over Osha's back, she saw a long pillar of fire rolling from the deck's center toward the rail-wall- toward her.

The whole ship swirled away as she slammed down hard, sliding across the deck beneath Osha. She felt him roll, curling himself around her, until they slid to a stop.

And that rolling column of fire-the fallen foremast-crashed against the rail-wall where she and Osha had been an instant before.

Osha lurched up on his knees and slashed down at her with his stiletto. She barely flinched before the blade split the side of her cloak's collar. He ripped it off of her, nearly flipping her over on her face, and grabbed her by the arm. As he pulled her up, they both looked frantically about.

The crew had abandoned any attempt to control the flames. A visceral scream, like a great cat in anger, broke over the fire's crackle. Before it had even faded, Osha shouted.

"Leshil!"

Wynn saw Leesil half-crouched on the cargo grate's far side, surrounded by fire. Magiere clawed at the flames, trying to reach him. Her eyes were black disks as tears ran down her snarling face. The grate burned too wildly around Leesil, as did the forecastle and deck between him and the aft. Even the far rail-wall was ablaze. He ducked low, shielding his face and eyes as he twisted about.

Wynn rushed for Magiere, looking for any way to get to Leesil. Then her feet left the deck again.

Osha swung her back with his arm around her waist.

"Put me down!" Wynn shouted. "Leesil cannot see. He needs help!"

"Bith-na!" Osha shouted in her face, then shoved her into the corner between the aftcastle and rail-wall.

"No" to what? Wynn struggled against him. What did he mean?

Another bright red-yellow light grew in the air. Gasping, she saw the burning mainsail sagging toward the deck.

"Magiere, look up! Get back!" Wynn called, choking on her words.

Cargo hold. Now!

Chap's voice erupted in Wynn's head.

She saw him racing along the far rail-wall from the forecastle… running on top of the rail. His shimmering fur glinted with red and yellow firelight.

Wynn writhed in Osha's grip. "Come on! Below… we meet Chap below!"

Osha released her, shaking his head, and she grabbed his wrist, pulling him. She stopped at the hatch stairwell and shouted as loudly as she could.

"Magiere, come on! Chap says to go to the cargo hold!"

But Magiere either did not hear her or would not leave. The burning mainsail writhed in the wind, like a living thing of fire that coiled down to snatch her in its grip.

Magiere cried out like an animal, reaching through the flames for Leesil. Her gloved hand began to smoke, and she snatched it back. She let hunger fill her and shut her eyes against the fire's brightness. She tried stepping into it.

Heat instantly seared her face and hands, and she leaped back.

Wynn shouted over the roar-something about a cargo hold-but Magiere couldn't take her eyes from Leesil's blurred shape amid the blaze.

Another flickering blur raced toward him from the ship's far end. It loped along the burning rail-wall, and then brightened by firelight into a silvery canine form.

Chap leaped high through the flames.

His forepaws struck Leesil's shoulder. Both toppled upon the burning cargo grate, and it shattered beneath their sudden weight.

Firelight surged around Magiere as she screamed.

Leesil was gone. And Chap with him.

More light descended from above her.

She saw the first whipping corner of the burning sail coil around the mid mast. She threw herself backward, rolling away as the descending inferno swallowed the midship.

Wynn had shouted something about the cargo hold.

Magiere turned on all fours, knocking aside a deckhand as she lunged toward the hatchway. A blur of gray-green cloak disappeared down the stairs, and she rushed in behind it, nearly falling over the first step.

Osha turned with wide eyes, and Wynn stood below the last step.

"Chap said we must get to the cargo hold!" she shouted.

Magiere understood now.

"No!" she growled back. "You… get off the ship! I'll… get to Leesil and Chap."

Wynn opened her mouth to argue.

"Take her!" Magiere shouted into Osha's face.

She shoved him against the stairwell wall, grabbed Wynn by her shift's shoulder, and nearly threw her at the young elf. Without waiting to see if they obeyed, Magiere ran down through the ship's passages. At the bottom, she followed the only narrow corridor that headed toward midship. There was a door at the end.

Magiere didn't even slow. She hit it with her shoulder at full speed, and the door crashed open, dangling in pieces from its hinges.

"Leesil!"

Water sloshed knee-deep around her legs as she slogged in. The hold was filling with seawater through a hole torn in the hull's far side. And then she heard splashing that didn't come from her own steps.

Leesil broke the water's surface, rising up, and Chap half-waded and half-paddled toward him.

Magiere struggled forward, her boots already heavy with water. She was breathing too fast and couldn't say anything as she pawed frantically at Leesil, searching for injuries.

Runnels of water left soot-smudged streaks on his face, but his expression melted in equal relief at the sight of her. His was still holding on to his one winged blade, and he grabbed her wrist with his other hand.