Welcome back! Again, this is my first LoD fanfic and I kind of like it despite that it's old. Please R&R and you know how the disclaimer goes! Thanks! K

"No."

Even now Lavitz's words stung his heart and burned in his ears. Watch over His Majesty. I can entrust you with everything... Dart knew he had promised. He could not let his friend's last wish go denied. "You cannot have him." The thing smiled, as did several of its fellows. Perhaps it only seemed so because of the light but it angered Dart nonetheless. The same one drawled, "Perhaps we won't have him but the flames will. Either way his spirit will die here." As though in answer a tongue of fire leapt from the couch to light one of the other pillars.

Dart leapt forward with a roar, cutting two of the skeletons neatly into pieces. The others let out an echoing cry of rage and swarmed him; Dart backed up, putting his back to Albert's corner. He swung his large sword wildly, trying with all he had to not leave himself open. Bones flew and scattered as he chopped but to his horror those he did not dice up completely continued their assault on him.

Metal grated against metal; Dart felt the bruising power of the impact as a sword smashed against the armor on his back. He whipped around, sword a silver arc, and cut the creature down. In that same second three more jumped him, their combined weight slamming Dart to the floor. His sword slid away across the planks and he swore blackly- he was now unarmed. Drawing up his left arm- though it was still a bit sore from its earlier wound- he used its armor for protection and swung it like a club. His elbow met bone and he grinned in spite of things as a skull went flying and shattered on the wall. Whipping around to face his opponents again he found them retreating out the door.

"You can burn," one of them hissed, "You too are ours now." And they all filed out and vanished. Retrieving his sword, Dart looked around him; three of the walls were completely burning and another of the pillars, crumbling with the intensity of the flames, fell and barred his escape with its blazing wooden form. Fighting the smoke that had seemed unimportant while he fought he felt around again, finally managing to find Albert. The king was lying on his back under the chunks of the first pillar, both of which were dangerously close to oncoming flames. It looked as though he had stood and then the second explosion had shattered the pillar and dropped it on him. The first piece, one about four feet long, two feet wide and two feet thick was laid horizontally across his torso while another piece of almost the same dimensions had fallen atop his left arm. That same chunk pinned his cloak as well.

I'll have to move them both, Dart realized and, coughing harder now, he went to the wooden anchor on Albert's arm.

It was easy enough to roll it off, though heavy as it was Dart could not lift it very well. Turning, he was faced with a larger challenge: he could not roll the second larger chunk off without hurting the unconscious king further.

As Dart struggled with his rescue the crew of the Queen Fury was getting increasingly nervous. The flames on the ghost ship were higher now, high enough to reach their own vessel; though the Fury was largely metal it still had wooden parts.

"We can wait no longer!" Commodore Puler was yelling to his crew, "We must pull away!" A black-clad figure swept up onto the deck and grasped his arm in a bruising grip.

"Not yet," Rose hissed angrily in his ear, "If you do you would kill not only Dart but you will also doom all of Serdio."

"What!"

"Albert is not just Albert," she went on, "He is the king of Serdio and considering he has no heir you will start a war over the ascension to the throne. That would be bloody and there would be no victor." Puler gulped hard and after a moment's hesitation he called out.

"We wait two more minutes and then we HAVE to get away from the other ship!" Rose nodded, satisfied.

A minute passed and the others- especially Shana- were terribly anxious. They kept looking for any sign of Dart and continually found none. Suddenly there was a cry of alarm: a fire had started along the Queen Fury's hull and the crew dashed forward, hoses in hand, to douse it.

"Engines on line, pull us back!"

"No!" That was Shana. "We can't leave them!" The Commodore paid her no heed and took the wheel himself, steering the Fury hard to the left. Slowly, with much creaking of metal and splitting of wood, the huge vessel began to dislodge from the smaller one.

Five of the seven companions stood along the deck of the Fury, facing the ghost ship as the gap between the two vessels' decks grew from one foot to two and then to three. It continued to grow larger as the fire danced as high as their heads on the other ship's deck- the flames had reached that high, consuming all the lower levels as they did.

The gap was ten feet wide now and the others were powerless to stop it. Suddenly, from somewhere behind the fire, a yell of effort rang in the now-silent air. A moment after that something slammed against the Queen Fury's side, somewhere further down the deck from Rose and the others.