In the gaze of the moon

[Karuka]

Taodoine panicked and struggled when the ice encased him on his near-vertical ascent. His wings and tail grew heavy, despite his desperate flapping and clawing, and he started tumbling from the air - straight back toward the dragon. Wherever his master was, she wasn't giving him direction. But he was an autonomous being, capable of fighting for his own life when it came down to it. And he was a bird famed for fire; he was not so easy to flash-freeze.

Down, down, down he tumbled, through the smog, over the wrecked buildings, over the thick sheet of ice, over the rubble and the rabble. When he was only a few dozen feet away from Moonwing, he burst again, more powerfully than before. The ice surrounding his body weakened when the fire hit it, then shattered when he flapped, sending shards bursting in every direction. His wings ached with the cold, and they only hurt more from the sudden heat that shrouded him. But he wasn't done yet.

The ball of fire turned again, getting his mighty wings above him and his vicious talons beneath him. While the men ripped through Moonwing's perch, he turned on the dragon once more, dive bombing the enraged reptile's other eye. He wanted to gouge it out and blind her, to take advantage of her weak spot. After he strafed her, he wheeled and fled. He was an intelligent bird, and he knew he didn't want to keep tangling with this dragon who changed her attacks so rapidly.

Not far away, Karuka crested a building and scanned the carnage through the cold fog that billowed forth with every breath. In a technical sense, she'd been successful; the dragon couldn't fly. In a real sense, she'd made things a whole lot worse. Even if they managed to take down Moonwing, Jormungstadt might be better off abandoned.

She bit her lip. What could she do to keep the dragon's attention off of the innocent townsfolk? Well, other than feed Storm to her. Speaking of, she caught sight of him from the corner of her eye, flying up into the air and making himself visible. Ever th' survivor, that man.

Now she had to make a choice. There were survivors in the collapsing church, and they were probably doomed if the dragon went down on top of them. But there were more people who hadn't or couldn't fled the town, people who would be doomed if the dragon didn't die at the feet of the gods. I offer a prayer t' th' lost. An' another t' th' living.

Karuka's hand still throbbed and bled where she'd cut it, but she had neither time nor inclination to attend to her minor wound when there was still an urgent threat. She could feel a cistern beneath the church, and she'd only just begun using magic. With focus, with effort, with a few quick, deliberate gestures, she called upon the water again.

It roared up through the fount and the floor in its tons and torrents, crashing through plaster and shingles to bombard the gleaming dragon from beneath and destroy her perch. It exploded into the air above her, then crashed back down on top of her in a relentless, brutal barrage. Surely the roof couldn't hold under any more abuse.

An' with any luck, we can fry 'er dead. I'm sorry, beautiful beast. But fer th' families y've sundered an' d'stroyed, fer th' mothers who grieve their sons an' daughters, fer th' orphans left b'hind in yer rage... Fer vengeance an' wrath taken too far. We can't let y' keep goin'.