Pirate Bitches
"Not under these conditions," Domina said. "Water creature, however—fire should do the trick, and I have plenty of that." There was a glint in her eye and a small spring in her step as she turned back to the railing. Domina was not a creature made for battle, no, but never let it be said she wasn't good at it. And from this vantage point, she could focus on hurling spells fast and hard from the relative safety of the air. The other airships could do all the idiotic flashy maneuvers they liked; she knew Bella wouldn't put her father's ship (and her livelihood) at such risk by plowing directly into the line of fire.
So she planted herself firmly at the railing, her heeled boots finding purchase on the damp dock, the very wood and metal seeming to ripple up around her ankles. The mark of a real geomancer. The terrain was conforming to her plans, meeting her demands and needs, over its own. The ship unmoored in a flurry of flung ropes and rose into the air, sails unfurling, engines humming, sailors hollering to each other as the Rising Sun lifted into the sky. Wind whipped her hair into a frenzy but it didn't matter. She already had her target in mind.
Domina lifted both hands above her head. The air began to crackle around them.
Then it was a torrent of flame: balls of red-orange fire streaking across the sky, colliding hard with the great serpent's wings, tail, mouth, horns. Three, four, five, six—her hands came down and she swept her hair out of the way, then lifted her arms again. "I wonder if the beast can fly without wings or tail," she said, the air crackling around her again. "Shall we test that theory?"