Aurelia flinched each time her door sprang against the deadbolt, watched on in wide-eyed horror as the beams began to warp and splinter. There was shouting everywhere, but she could hardly hear it, hardly hear the crashing and banging on her own door over her heartbeat. She found herself pressing ever harder against the window, knees tightly up against her chest, pressing back against the glass as if she could will herself through it. She had such a grip on her shard of glass that it cut through the layers of her dress and bit into her trembling fingers. She didn't care. 

From somewhere on deck there came a ferocious sound, raw and animal, ripping through the ship's holds. Then, a moment later, a great [i]whoosh[/i] that rumbled, but never subsided. 

Aurelia smelled smoke. 

Through the broken window she could hear the desperate cries of dying men and a cacophony of steel and pounding feet over the rush of the sea. Something fell off the stern of the ship behind her and crashed into the water; Aurelia didn't see what it was, but as it fell it had been screaming. 

A glance out at the fading light revealed a dangerous orange glow above, flickering in the darkening sky and glinting off the water. Smoke was seeping through the ceiling; she could see flames licking between the beams. Now and then sparks rained down upon her as someone or something pounded across the top of the cabin, and the occasional [i]crack[/i] of weakened wood reminded her that her time was running out. 

Suddenly, there was shouting outside the door, though she couldn't make out what was said; then, grunts and cries of pain, the [i]shing[/i] of grinding metal, soft thumping and a great [i]crack[/i]. Then, a voice. 

[i]“Aurelia?!”

“Princess?! I’m coming in.”[/i]

Aurelia barely managed to brace herself before the door exploded inward, a shower of wood and splinters raining down on her. She hid her face from the barrage; when she looked up, she was met with the hulking form of Ser Kincade, all armour and massive wings silhouetted against the hazy glow of the corridor behind him. 

[i]“My lady, come with me, quick! We have to get off the ship.”[/i]

Aurelia had never been so happy to see the half-breed in her life. 

There was no hesitation; Aurelia leapt to her feet, discarded her painful weapon and rushed to the knight, taking his extended hand with both of hers. She could have dissolved into frantic sobbing right there from the relief, but that would have to wait. When she looked up, she saw the shining enamel of his cuirass was awash in red; it didn't register as a problem. The blue eagle underneath it was all that mattered to her.