Mindfang/Redglare: Trope- Screw This, I'm Outta Here! (In which Mindfang sees her fleet go up in dragon fire)
It was the muffled, echoing shriek and the swiftly growing silhouette on the horizon that tipped her off first. Peering through her glass at what could only be Pyralspite, the Marquise swore violently. "Fuck everything!" In a motion that could only be described as murderous, she leapt off the forecastle in the midst of her crew.
"We're getting out of here, you logs! As fast as we can!"
Her fleet turned around slowly. Not all of her ships were designed for speed, after all. There were a few junks meant specifically for hauling bounty, and more were built for holding cannon and weapons. So her personal ship and another four or so pulled far ahead of her lagging fleet, increasing their respective distances to the furious dragon lusus and its rider even as it drew closer to the remaining vessels.
The fire first touches a ship that's carrying explosives. You know this because the flames paint the ocean orange, and then the explosion of the ship sends wooden splinters everywhere. The force of the blast even sends part of a jib into the mast. Parts of the other ships have caught fire, and despite their crews' best efforts you know that they won't be putting the flames out in time.
Redglare will be on them before they have the chance.
She hates to cut her fleet loose like this, to sacrifice them to Reglare's fiendish draconic fire, but she values her own skin above all else. There will be other ships, other bounty, and other opportunities. And Marquise Mindfang will rise above the loss of her ships, of her crews and slaves and bounty, and return ready for vengeance and the plunder.
But for now she would flee, flee and bide her time and strength. Despite her fortitude and resourcefulness, she had as of yet at least, no chance of survival against a fire breathing dragon. Her best shot in the dark for a weapon capable of stymieing the behemoth still needed a few perigrees, so for now she would run.
Mindfang watched with contempt and a degree of mournful sorrow as her entire fleet (sans the four others who were fast enough to keep up with her own ship) went up in flames. The shadow of the dragon flew circles around burning wreckages, screeching as it went.
Redglare would pay in blood for the losses Mindfang incurred today. This wasn't over.