Emerging from the cave, Rorax gained height as fast as he could, cursing the injured wing that slowed him down. In any civilized place he'd have been able to heal the wound by now — a quick dip in a healing pool would have fixed it. But the pirates didn't have the technology and he'd had to do without. Now he was paying for that.

He only knew the general direction the Emperor Turian's Revenge had headed in, but that was enough to start with. Flying high above Mars's red sands, he watched Korgan's pirate fleet scatter with a muted satisfaction. That was a good sign as far as his mission went. The pirates were weakened and their base in ruins — but that would mean nothing if he couldn't find Laura and bring her back to safety.

They can't have gotten far, not even in the Revenge. Where are they? It was hard to see a skyship in the distance, they left no wake or trail to follow. But a dragon's eyes were made to spot prey from the sky, and the Revenge was a much easier target to see than the tiny Bradbury. Flying high he soon saw the shape of the giant ship in the distance.

That meant that they could see him, too, silhouetted against the sky. Rorax knew he had no hope of sneaking up on his enemy. He'd have to face them head on.

Good. Enough of this deception and lying, I'm not good at that anyway. I'll tear my way through them and burn anyone who's dared hurt my mate. Soaring towards his enemy, Rorax felt his lips draw back in a furious snarl at the thought. Now I just have to catch them.

He narrowed his eyes, focusing like a hawk. On the deck of the Revenge, two of the pirates stood watch inside the ship's atmosphere shield. As Rorax closed the gap they saw him, pointing in his direction and shouting. Rorax redoubled his efforts as Korgan appeared on deck.

For a moment, he dared to hope that Korgan would turn the ship back and face him honorably, but no. His brother wasn't interested in a fair fight — the ship accelerated away, racing towards the horizon, and Rorax hurried after it. The ship wove between tall pillars of red rock that rose from the plains of Mars, and Rorax soared high above them, slowly gaining.

It would be a long chase, and his wings were already tired. By the time he caught up with the ship, Rorax knew he'd be weak. They couldn't get away from him, even a swift skyship couldn't outrace an angry dragon, but that didn't mean they couldn't prolong the chase further than he'd like.

No choice. After them. Korgan can play what tricks he likes, but my brother won't keep me from Laura's side.

Spreading his wings wide, Rorax conserved his strength as best he could. Racing after the ship would have him reach it quicker but it would also leave him too tired to fight when he arrived. This way, as tired as he'd be, he'd at least have one good fight left in him. Whether it would be enough to face Korgan and his whole crew, he didn't know.

It would simply have to be.

The jeers of the pirates didn't carry through the thin Martian atmosphere, but Rorax could see their gestures clearly. Challenges to hurry up, to come and fight, carrying the implication that he was a coward for hanging back. He ignored them — if they really wanted to fight now, nothing was stopping them leaving their ship and coming to him. He wasn't about to be goaded into a rash attack that would cost him whatever chance he might have of victory.

Korgan knew that. He stood on the deck of his ship, arms folded, watching Rorax approach with a cold fury written across his face. With the patience of a hunter, he would wait for Rorax to close the gap and then finish him. It would have been a tough fight with both of them fresh, and Rorax started to wonder how he'd manage against his older brother now.

Then everything changed in an instant. The Revenge lurched sideways, catching those on her deck by surprise and sending the scrambling for handholds. The skyship steered straight into one of the pillars of red rock and slammed into it at full speed, buckling with the impact.

Rorax grinned as the slowest of the four pirates missed his handhold and went flying off the deck. Twisting in midair he started to shift, but everything was happening too fast for him. He struck the rocky ground while still only half-transformed, and what little control he'd had was lost as he careened across the landscape, his body torn and bloody.

The others fared better, hanging onto whatever they'd found to grip as the Emperor Turian's Revenge plowed to a stop in the rocks. Rorax soared high above them, closing the gap before they could recover, and furled his wings to dive. The nearest pirate just had time to look up and draw breath to shout before Rorax landed on him, talons pinning him to the deck and teeth tearing. His enemy thrashed helplessly in Rorax's jaws and then was still.

Looking up for the remaining pirates, Rorax saw two of them rushing towards him, shifting as they came. He launched himself across the deck at them, breathing fire into the face of the closest and driving him back howling. Before he could press his advantage, though, the other struck him in the side. The two of them tumbled across the deck, smashing everything in their way.

Twisting under his attacker, Rorax managed to dig his claws into the dragon's side and tear away some of his armored scales. His enemy roared in pain but didn't let go, hanging on as though his life depended on it. Rorax knew that if he didn't get out from under this enemy soon, the other dragon would join the attack. Outnumbered like that, the fight would get much harder.

But the dragon pinning him was strong and heavy, and seemed not to care about the wounds Rorax was inflicting on him. Rorax grudgingly admired his enemy's tenacity — if he'd stayed loyal to the empire, he would have been a great help. He made his choice and turned traitor, Rorax reminded himself. This was no time for sympathy with a foe who threatened not just him but his mate as well.

The third dragon reared over them, wings spread and blocking out the sun, and Rorax saw time had run out. He had to do something, right now, or the fight was over.

When there's no time for a good plan, try a bad one, he thought, breathing fire beneath him.

The flame struck the deck of the Revenge and spread, heating the surface under the three dragons and weakening it. With a groaning ripping sound, the softening deck gave way under their weight. All three of them tumbled down into the hold of the ship.

It wasn't a long fall, but he was the only one expecting it. Twisting as they tumbled down, Rorax managed to get his enemy under him and landed with all his weight on the dragon's ribs. The impact felt awful, a crunching grinding sensation as the enemy's bones broke under the impact, and then Rorax was free. The remaining dragon stared at him is surprise and then leaped at him.

Rorax met him head on, both of them breathing flame that set alight the netting on the walls of the cargo hold. The light flickered around the empty hold, cleared to make way for the ransom that would never come. All that was left below decks were the engines and the fuel stores at the back of the ship. Rorax winced at the thought of what the fire could do to the fuel tanks if it reached them.

The two dragons slammed into each other, and fire bathed Rorax's body. He felt his scales char under the flame of his enemy's fury. Then they were grappling, rending and tearing as they rolled over and over, the impact as they hit the hull of the ship echoing.

A slash of his talons across the pirate dragon's face made him rear back. That was the opening Rorax needed to sink his teeth into the long neck of his opponent. The scales there were weaker than those on his torso, and as he bit down hard he felt them part under his fangs.

The pirate felt it too, and pulled back with all his strength. The battle forgotten, the young warrior tore himself from Rorax's grip and leaped for the rent in the deck above them, pulling himself up. Rorax considered grabbing hold of him, pulling him back, finishing him off — but he could see the panic in his enemy and knew that if the man left now, he wouldn't be back.

Let the coward run, he told himself, falling back and catching his breath. I don't need to kill him to beat him, and I'll need all my strength when I face my brother. He was exhausted from the pursuit and the fight, and his reserves of energy were low. Every breath was agony, but at least there was air here for him to breath. The portable airmaker Korgan had set up on his flagship was still working.

There was no sign of Korgan himself, though. Rorax couldn't believe that his brother had turned coward and fled, but whatever he was doing, he hadn't charged into the fight with his men. That worried Rorax, but he didn't waste time on the question of where Korgan was.

He was here for Laura, and that was all that mattered.