There was a strategy in what I’d been doing, in using my aura. There were many strategies in this. Lung wasn’t used to being on the defensive, and he had to limit what he did, even stepping to one side as the purple fire swelled and the Pharmacist was slow to recognize and react to the problem. Goddess hurled a metal beam at him, and he leaped to the side, where he was struck by a volley of something else. Slivers or spikes. Some impaled him, but they didn’t slow him down.

My eyes were open, and in the relatively dark area, Lung was bright and easy to see. Where he was covered in metal scales, the metal reflected the flames. The rest of him was more of a silhouette against the bright flames. I could see the dragon mask, different from the one he had once had, with chains cutting through short black hair, tying the mask to his head.

I’d hoped for a tell, that the easily provoked Lung would turn his head around and shout at the Pharmacist for her failure to be careful. That he’d look to a nearby window to make sure she was still alive, and that he didn’t have to worry about burning to death for—

I had no idea how old he was, I realized. No idea how long it had been since he’d had to worry about burning to death.

No idea, and no indication that he was looking to any specific location for the Pharmacist.

The other tell that I was looking for was in the movement of purple flame—it was why I was paying attention to the flame that nipped at my toes as it burned at the motive forces of my flight, and to the purple explosions that flared up each time I pulsed out with my aura. It was the approach I’d used when dealing with Mama Mathers. Cape out of sight? Watch their power instead.

With each pulse of my aura, the flames grew, and the Pharmacist dashed the flames, extinguishing a swathe of the fire around Lung as if throwing invisible water on the area. I could pulse it, see the response time, repeat, see if it changed. I could establish a rhythm, then fake them out. How fast did they respond then?

Lung started hurling streams of fire into the sky. Easy enough to dodge.

Still pushing with my flight to keep ahead of the trail, tracing a wide circle around the area, I pulsed my aura again. Was there a shape to the extinguished area? It wasn’t circular or neat. Did it vary? Why?