Dragon Goddess’s chosen

Next morning

 

“Nngh… Alex…” Max's soft whines and nuzzling into my chest as he stirred drew me out of my sleep. The night was rough, my body hating every movement of the boat, but sleeping in a hammock helped as did Max's decision to join me in it.

“Morning, pup…” I yawned quietly and happily squished him against me more, petting his hair.

 “Morning,” he replied sleepily with his tail wagging lazily. I smiled a little and kept petting while glancing around the crew quarters. Most of the hammocks were empty now except for a couple crew members, Kat In one above us, Eris and Nicolas sharing one nearby and Rei in her own also close by. Noise coming from the door out to the main deck confirmed that the rest of the crew already started for the day.

“Should probably get up…” I sighed after a few minutes.

“...” Max's hand shyly gripped then released my shirt, obviously not wanting up yet. A giggle escaped me and I kissed his forehead.

“On a protection job, remember? Gotta get up.”

“Mmm…”

“She's right,” Kat chimed in as she rolled over with a book in her hand. “Morning by the way~”

“You too. Should've figured you were already up,” I teased quietly as I stretched and gently untangled myself from our boyfriend.

“Yep… a couple hours now… I wish I could still sleep in a bit,” she shrugged then playfully tapped my head lightly with the book. “And that there was more room in these for three…” she glanced at Rei still in hers. “Hmm, make that four…”

“Definitely would be pushing it there,” I chuckled and carefully clambered out of the hammock with soft protesting whines from Max. Slight sickness came back to my stomach as soon as I wasn't suspended anymore. “Blegh…”

“You ok?” my boyfriend checked immediately, still sounding sleepy.

“Y-yep… just this stupid boat… at least it's a little better now.” I grabbed my bag from under where I was just laying. “Ugh… I'm just going to go change… and go out…”

“To amazon?” Kat teased.

“... agh… normally being more dragon makes dragon things worse though...” I sighed.

“We might have a fight today…” Max shyly pointed out.

“Are you just agreeing because you like her in her big form?” Our girlfriend laughed softly.

“I-I like her in any form…”

“Fine, fine, I'll do ‘Amazon’ just in case…”

“Ha! You finally called it that! Now you can't get onto us for calling it that too~” she giggled even more. I rolled my eyes, gave both of them a kiss, and grabbed my poleaxe before carefully heading towards one of the small bathrooms in the corners of the quarters to change.

“Whatever, I'm heading out, come join me when you wanna get up.” I slipped into the tiny room as soon as I reached it.

 It was a bit awkward changing in there but I managed even with making it more cramped by shifting. Eventually I was ready enough to head out onto the main deck, finishing securing the straps and buckles of my gladiator-like stomach and shoulder armor and holding a length of twine ready for my hair as I opened the door. Even though I felt a bit better that morning, a particularly strong sway of the boat forced me to lean against a set of stairs that led to the top of the forecastle above the crew quarters as I finished up.

“Ya alright there, princess?” A gruff voice heckled as I reached up to put my hair up. 

“Princess ‘s still in ‘ere,” I grumbled around the twine and pointed at the door with my tail as I scanned over the activity on the deck for the source. My eyes quickly landed on the wolf Inugami approaching me. With this closer look of him, he seemed like the older sort, but not nearly as old as Daimyo Miyasaki, some cuts and scars on his arms and parts of his fur most exposed to the sun bleached lighter than the rest. I grabbed the twine to secure my hair in the normal ponytail. “I'm the other redhead.”

“Oh I know, smelled something different about ya, I was talking about ya wobblin’ about like a fawn on even a pleasant day like this and lookin sick yesterday.” He laughed. 

“I'm… not used to boats…”

“So, the mighty ‘Wyrm of Rookport’ gets seasick,” I frowned a bit.

“I was hoping no one here knew about that title…” I grumbled then I was surprised when he presented his hand to shake.

“So ya are her. Captain Faolàn by the way.” Something about him made me hesitate for a moment.

‘Something is wrong… his scent? He smells like dog… something else is there…”

 

Insufficient proficiency with sense for precise identification 

 

Detected scents:

Main:

Canid

Hominid

 

‘Something else to train…’

“Should've introduced myself yesterday, talked to the ‘princess’ when she boarded, figured she was the party leader at the time. Thought that was enough,” he continued as I cautiously took his hand just to be polite. 

“She is one… the party is still two combined…” I pushed off from the wall and glanced towards some of the other sailors working on raising a net up on a crane with a series of cranks and pulleys. “So… what do I owe this honor of being greeted directly…? Your men seem to be hard at work right now.”

“Came to gauge how ready ya are for what's to come. We are bait as ya know and seeing that you're inexperienced with sailing…”

“I've realized that. We have experience with sea monsters though,” I replied, raising my arm to show the crescent of white scales on my left arm as I passed him on my way to the edge of the deck. “Got bit from a kaiju when we fought one, broke my horn too…”

“Good to see ya have some experience,” he chuckled and followed and leaned on the railing with me. “But as for ya ship experience, gotta be careful out here, and be ready to cut ya losses if something gets caught.” 

“And what do you mean by that?” A grin crossed his maw as he showed the hand he didn't offer to shake with. It was missing both the ring and little finger.

“Anything that ya don't pay attention to can get caught easy, fingers, tail, hair,” he waved his marred hand dismissively. “Just be ready to accept a rough trim if that pretty hair is snagged.”

“I'll keep that in mind…” I sighed and glanced over the crew again. The few women I could spot either had short hair or wore bandanas like most of the men. “What about your crew…? Are they ready for what we could face? Any weapons on board we can use?”

“Ah, they're tough, they'll be fine. As for weapons, we have our blades, harpoons, and Eliza and Gideon are mages,” he motioned towards the dwarf woman and one of the men dealing with the crane. “No ballistae or mangonel as you can see, the boss didn't want to risk a ship she used for cargo too.”

‘Mangonel? Heard of that before… wait… I think that was another name for catapult… maybe?’ I let out a sigh and looked back over the water. “So… what do you think the problem monster is?”

“If we're lucky, it's a Meg or some hippocampi being shits”

‘Megalodon exist here and that's a lucky option??’ “If we're not…?”

“A number of different things:a leviathan calf or other kaiju, or water dragon.” He shrugged then grinned more as fear of seeing another dragon crept up in my heart. “Though, with ya here, ya could negotiate with the dragon if that's it.”

“I hope it isn't, I'm… kinda young so I'm not sure if I'd get much respect with an angry, older one of… my kind…”

“Shame, here's hopin’ it's not one then!” He tapped his knuckles on the railing then stood up straight again. “Thanks for the little chat, I'll let ya know if any of us spot anythin’.”

‘And thanks for giving me something else to worry about…’ I thought with a grumble.

---

Late afternoon

 

“... kinda funny… I always kind of wanted to travel,” Nicolas said almost wistfully while we all were hanging out on the bow again. The day ended up being fairly boring and uneventful. We couldn't really help the crew without being in the way so talking and simple games while a couple of us kept watch was basically all we could do. “Just thought I'd finish college first…”

“Whelp, welcome to the Irish coast basically” Kat joked as she waved to the high cliff faces to the left of the boat.

“Yeah… that's what's making me think about it… I had a chance to go there before but didn't take it…” he sighed.

“Not exactly on vacation here but I get what you mean,” I chuckled softly with a stretch as I subtly curled my tail around Rei's ankle more. She was better but still visibly uncomfortable with the situation. All I could do is keep minor contact with her that seemed to make her less tense. “There was a few places I wanted to go too,” I shrugged “I'm sure there's plenty of neat places we can go here.”

“Exactly~ I can't wait to bring you back to Metria, all the hills, forests, fields, castles…” Eris chimed in happily and a slight smile came back to the cleric’s face. “Especially Evreux. I'd love to see Father's face when I bring you home.”

“Gods… I'm not looking forward to visiting home… the letter and Dad probably gotten there by now…” Max sighed softly next to me as he leaned against me slightly. 

“Come on, it can't be that bad,” Eris pestered. “You weren't even gone for that long yet.”

“I-I told them about Alex being a dragon in it t-though… Dad knows that but… I-I included the mate thing too…  so…”

“That's going to be a fun conversation.” I sighed then caught a smirk on my girlfriend's face as if she wanted to comment on something.

“Is it that important to show your mate to your parents…?” Rei asked as she let herself sink down to a seated position against the railing. “You are adults, is their approval really necessary?”

“Oh I know Father would never approve of Nick,” Eris laughed. “He would never be happy with anything less than a baron, that's what makes it more fun~”

“I don't want to make a whole noble family angry with me,” the cleric pointed out but his girlfriend just kissed his cheek.

“Oh don't worry about it! They'll be angry with me but they can't do anything about me.” She grinned. “Too bad we can't all have fun dads that are really accepting like Max.”

“H-huh?” My boyfriend yelped and hugged my arm more from suddenly being brought up. 

“Your dad seemed proud that you had two girlfriends! I wonder if it'll hold up if you get another~ Hey, Saerei~”

“D-don't start, noble!” The dragoness snapped quickly, her face turning pink.

“Ooh struck a nerve there? Do you like hi-”

“Shit…” Kat cursed with a slight flinch. “It's gonna happen soon.”

“I thought you were going to warn us hours ahead…?” Nicolas pointed out, his hand nervously going to the mace on his hip.

“I didn't get anything until now.” She groaned. “It's definitely not planning these far ahead… fuck, make that they… there's two…” her grip tightened on her bow over her shoulder.

“They what?” I pressed but then the boat suddenly lurched to the right, the same side the net was being dragged from.

“No sail and Bring her about!” Captain Faolàn barked orders instantly and the crew below scrambled into action. The main sail started being drawn up from half to closed as the entire ship started turning hard to the right, forcing me to dig my claws in and brace myself. Rei meanwhile grabbed and pulled my tail to her chest.“Keep that line taut! If this is a big catch we are keepin it!”

“Kat. What is it? What are we against?” I hissed.

“It's Orca kings,” she answered with a sigh.

“What??”

“Shush! Don't make a fuss yet, we aren't supposed to know yet.”

“Ooh so we get another shot at killing one?” Eris giggled enthusiastically. 

“... you should not be that excited to fight those” Rei grumbled, still clutching my tail. “Especially out here…”

“Captain!” Another shout from the main deck made me glance that way. A pair of crew members were struggling with the crank for the net crane. I sighed and instinctively took a step to go help but Kat gently stopped me.

“Be careful… this is going to be hard… and don't let on what we know…” she said softly. 

“I'll try” I patted her hand softly then gave both her and Max a kiss before untangling myself from him and Rei and rushing the best I could to aid the sailors.

The crank ended up slipping out of one of their hands just as I made it over, spinning freely and letting out line, quickly too. Without thinking, I stuck a foot of my armored tail between the spokes of the crank. It was brought to a halt with a blunt, painful smack that I felt through my scales as it was slammed against the post of the crane. I gave a soft curse and grabbed the handle before I could find out if the crane would break or shear that bit of my tail off.

“Finally stepping in to work?” Captain Faolàn's voice joked as I felt his hand on my shoulder as I worked on slowly reeling the line in and freeing my tail.

“Looked like your men needed help,” I grunted, continuing to fight the crane. It definitely helped that the ship was heading towards where the line led. “Agh… there's something pulling on it…”

“Good, we didn't catch a rock then.” He turned to the few loitering sailors. “Harpoons just in case, the Drag’n's got this.”

“Yes, Captain!” Came the reply and the handful scattered to the hatch that led below deck.

“The rest of ya are-!” the wolf man shouted to the rest of my party but paused. I glanced over my shoulder to see that they were already on their way over, Eris leading and still obviously giddy at the prospect of fighting a monster. “- welcome to join… Johnson! Feel like ya gonna eat your words about this lot bein lazy!” The caption chuckled and I caught a guilty look from one of the men attending to the ship's rigging.

“What?” I grunted again before the line suddenly went slack. I cursed softly and started to spin the crank faster to get tension again.

“Maybe it was just stuck somewhere?” Nicolas suggested hopefully.

“No, something was definitely pulling. Don't think fish can swim that well packed in a net”

“Tell that to Nemo…” Kat said under her breath as she walked past to the railing, bow in hand. I almost got a chance to chuckle but then just as suddenly as the tension lessened, it quickly returned. A yelp escaped me as I whipped around and braced against the handle the best I could to arrest any movement, my claws digging into the deck below. The wood of the crane post groaned in protest from the strain, as did the pulleys.

“Alex!” Max yelped as well as he and Rei rushed to me, the dragoness putting her hands over mine to help hold the handle but not really making a change in the struggle. She had a worried expression, staring at where the line was leading to the water. 

“We’re gonna get through this,” I assured her.

“I'm… I'm not sure how much help I will be like this…” she murmured, “I-I am not in a good state…”

“... Agh…” I checked to make sure the captain wasn't paying attention, luckily he was leaned over the ledge, gripping the railing in anticipation along with Eris. “Up to you. Fuck this is pushing hard… change if it's safer… shit, Max?”

“Y-yes?” he answered immediately with his ears popping up to full attention.

“My necklace… take-” the pressure on the crank disappeared again. “Take it! Quick! Rei, spin this your way, Ok?”

“Ok!” both replied then went to work on my requests. She took over with the wheel as I leaned down to let Max take my choker. As much as I loved it, it would only get in the way and I did not want it lost. As soon as it was off, I took over reeling in the net and Rei awkwardly backed off while watching the crew that were sent off for weapons return to the deck with harpoons. She then wordlessly took her cloak off, pushed it into Max's hands and rushed over to Kat, whispering something in her ear. My girlfriend nodded and looked at each of our party members. When she locked eyes with me, I felt the familiar pressure of the Message connection.

‘R- Saerrei is going to take off and help us from the air,’ she informed us, backing away from the edge or the deck.

‘Aww didn't want to try to punch it out?’ Eris teased.

‘No.’ the dragoness answered flatly, quickly moving to the other side of the boat. I was going to chastise the fighter, but the crank started fighting me again with more groans from the components of the crane.

“The Hell?” Rhe helmsman yelled. Concerned, I glanced back to him then followed his gaze to where Rei went just in time to see her shake the tattered remains of her clothes off of her true form. “Dragon!”

“Aye we kn-” the captain shouted back as a squeak of boots signaled him whipping around. “... Alex! What's the meaning of this?”

“Little busy!” I grunted through the strain of preventing the line of unreeling again. The boat rocked a bit, adding to the nausea that happened whenever the line was tugged on. Rei evidently just took off and a shadow passing over the deck in the next few moments proved it.

“Explain yourself, you said you were the Wyrm of Rookport!” he demanded.

“S-she is!” Max shyly defended me, his tail poofing up as he got between the captain and me, trembling a bit. I couldn't help but also notice he had slipped on both my choker and Rei's cloak to defensively wield his staff towards the irritated captain.

“Then who is she?” he waved his damaged hand towards Rei's silhouette circling above.

“Didn't…” I started to say then the line went slack again, much to my relief. I immediately worked on pulling it in again. “Didn't say I was the only dragon!”

“That would have been good to know!” He grumbled then looked back over the edge. 

‘I see the net, there's something following it, big’ Rei updated us.

‘Ok, finally close to the surface… almost done, my arms are getting tired… get ready everyone.’

“Bring it up” the captain continued. “Looks like we ‘ave more to talk about, any more dragons in ya little group?”

“Nope, only two,” I answered, tail flicking as I sped up my work and ignored him for now. By the time I finally brought up a half-filled net of a few hundred pounds of blue and silvery fish, my arms were burning. It wasn't over yet, however, in the next moment, an explosion of water below that even made everyone at the edge reflexively shield their eyes from the resulting spray. I however had a full view of the massive form clinging to the net. Its face and body were marred with various scars, a cut across its snout, various random cuts of sets of four and five claws, a burn around its beady black eye and recently-closed puncture wound on its leg.

Orca King

‘Shit, it's the same one,’ I thought in a panic as it narrowed its eye at me and let out a furious bellow that could make a tyrannosaurus jealous. Kat, Max, and the captain all recoiled at the sound.

‘Second one! Other side!’ Rei warned right before the ship rocked again. I quickly shot a glance back and panic further gripped my heart as I saw another of these monsters claw its way onto the deck. It was bigger and just as battle-scarred, including a series of circular marks down its side from what looked like a massive tentacle.

‘Shit…’