FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this story are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. All characters are of legal and consenting age, likewise if you are reading this story you should be of legal age in your respective country.

All characters are my own creation, any resemblance to existing characters is purely coincidental and not intentional, please do not use them without permission. If you would like to use them in a story, please feel free to send me a PM either as Inja on SoFurry or TheRealInja on FA. As always I am open to new story ideas or situations with existing characters as well.

Please note this is not a commission and isn't intended to lead on to anything further, I have no thoughts or ideas beyond this point. This was just inspired by an image (https://www.sofurry.com/view/1859357) from the amazing artist Lizet whose artwork I thoroughly enjoy, though the characters and even dragoness in this story are in no way related to any of the artists characters or worlds.

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The soft pillowy clouds were cut asunder by the bow of the Essex like a hot knife through butter, the large Leviathan class sky ship sailing through the night sky invisible to the kingdoms inhabitants from below. The soft rhythmic thumping of the large twin engines the only sound as they propelled the Essex across the night sky. Captain Jack "Deadeye" Jones stood behind the wheel staring skyward at the never-ending expanse of twinkling lights above. Years of experience had taught him that while beautiful in moments like this, the sky was a deadly place. The large grizzly raising a hand subconsciously to touch at the ragged scar across his blind left eye that served as a constant reminder of this.

Their lands had been ravaged in recent years by feral dragon attacks; the winged beasts usually attacked in the dead of night and swooped down on unsuspecting villages and towns. Often leaving nothing but ash and cinders in their wake, their magical fire leaving the earth tainted for years after, blackened and charred where not even the hardiest of weeds would grow. The Queen had been fast to react, marshalling every scholar, engineer and magician together to come up with a solution. Dragons were impervious to most magics, they were also notoriously hard to track down so finding them where they slept during the day was nigh impossible. It was decided their best defense was to fight them where they least expected it, in the sky.

Flying ships like the Essex where a combination of magic and engineering, massive whaling ships armed and armored enough to face a dragon head on. Large balloon pontoons would keep the ship afloat in the air while modern engines augmented with magic provided the speed and maneuverability to keep up or even evade a dragon flying at top speed. They worked too, the attacks were starting to become less frequent and the Sky Hunters were becoming heroes in the kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Knights of the Sky. A rather fitting name considering they hunted at night, Deadeye mused to himself.

With every dragon brought down, the Sky Hunters arsenal got stronger and more deadly. Their corpses were harvested for materials with barely any waste left over. Their scales provided the toughest armor available to both men and the ship, the once wooden hull now resembled a dragon's hide, and even the pontoons glimmered in the starlight with the softer underbelly scales protecting them, enabling them to swell or shrink for ballast as required. Their blood and bile could be turned into highly explosive or corrosive weapons; even their flesh when consumed in small portions provided a temporary boost to vitality and strength. It was for this reason that ships as large as the Essex had their own cook aboard whom could turn the flesh of their prey into stews, broths or even jerky, which would bolster and boost the men to perform beyond what was usually physically possible.

There were also less than heroic resources to be had from a dragon's corpse, parts which most wouldn't consider useful at all if they did not know any better. It was found that in a dragons reproductive organs was a particularly powerful aphrodisiac, turning even the most impotent of men into a virile lover. While not widely known by the common folk, the royals and nobles knew of this and paid handsomely under the table for the illicit goods.

"There she blows!" came the call from up in the crow's nest, snapping Deadeye from his wandering thoughts.

"What do you see, Eyes?" Deadeye bellowed from the deck below.

"Dragon sir! Like none we've ever seen before!" Came the leopard's excited reply as he pointed in the direction it had been spotted.

"Eyes?" Deadeye's questioning tone precluded a longer question.

"He's white Cap'n, like fresh snow!" Came the confirmation from above.

"Did he say the dragon was white?" Tiny asked in amazement, the small rabbit steward asked staring wide eyed up at his captain.

"Aye, that he did" Deadeye replied, seeming more concerned than excited at this news. A white dragon had never been seen before; they usually were on the darker end of the color spectrum. Most commonly black, red and blue dragons had been felled up until now. In all his years of Sky Hunting, Deadeye hadn't so much as even heard a rumor of a white dragon, not even in jest.

Deadeye nodded at the twin shire stallions whom were watching him expectantly, sharing a look between each other as they manned their harpoon guns and stood at the ready. Deadeye slowed the engines until they were barely audible above the wind, ensuring they could stalk up silently to the listening prey without being noticed. Seeing Ripper and his brother Longshot had the Dragon Iron ready to go, Deadeye steered straight for where Eyes had indicated their prey was.

For a long tense few moments there was nothing but the whisper of the midnight breeze as the Essex sailed through the clouds, the world up above was calm and peaceful, too calm perhaps. A pair of white wings appeared briefly above the cloud cover before vanishing for a long breathtaking moment, Deadeye released his held breath as a large ghostly form slowly emerged from below the clouds that was almost near half the Essex in length. Not the largest dragon they'd ever encountered, but still a formidable foe none the less. It's muscles rippled and strained beneath ivory white scales that shimmered beneath the moonlight with every beat of its expansive wings. The slow undulating motions almost hypnotic as the large beast flew through the inky black sky like a shooting star.

"Give it to him" Deadeye shouted seeing they were within range for the harpoons to pierce the dragons hide. Deep hollow thumps sounded one after the other, followed by the hissing of the steel alloy ropes uncoiling as the jagged spears arced through the air. The silence shattered by a roar of pain when the harpoons found their mark, biting deep into the dragon's flank. Luminescent blue blood erupting from the wounds as the beast fought against the tension of the ropes.

"Stern all! Stern all, for your lives" Deadeye shouted to his men, whom with practiced movement all retreated to the far side of the Essex and out of reach of the thrashing dragon's tail and flaming breath. As was expected when the dragons wound drained it of its strength, it could no longer fight back and the beast began to plummet to the ground below. Deadeye was quick to adjust the ships ballast and descend as fast was safely possible, though it was still not fast enough to stop the steel alloy ropes from smoking with how fast they were being uncoiled.

When the ropes stopped smoking and uncoiling rapidly, Deadeye knew the dragon had hit solid ground below. Turning sharp into a holding pattern above, steering sharp enough the Essex would list to one side and circle above their fallen prey, allowing them to peer below without getting too dangerously close, they could see the large white form lying motionless in an open field. There were no lights about, nor signs of any roads from what he could make out in the dark so their gutting of the beast could go ahead uninterrupted or observed.

A sudden movement caught the captain's eye, it was small but definitely there, his gut told him so as did the sudden burning of his scarred eye. Seeing there were still signs of life in the white dragon, Deadeye ordered the twins to load up the nets. Special enchanted netting which had cost a pretty penny; but was worth every last ounce of gold. Light enough that even Tiny the small rabbit could carry it, but when it met a dragons scales it doubled its weight to that of the dragon it was used to bound. The twins loaded up the net and took aim; once the Essex circled around alongside the fallen dragon again they fired. The net spiraling outward, growing wider with every passing second until it easily covered the large white beast. A pained growl bellowed up from the ground below as the almost crushing weight pinned the dragon in place.

"Time to claim our prize, gentleman!" Deadeye shouted with glee, his earlier trepidation fading now the beast was felled. Deadeye along with the twins and Smiley their butcher climbed aboard their skiff to descend down and inspect their catch. The four men approached cautiously, even though the dragon was bound in the net, there was no telling what this unique white dragon was capable of. The luminescent blue blood spattered about the field cast an eerie foreboding glow that almost rendered the men's torches worthless. The twins headed off either side of the dragon to make sure the net was secure while Deadeye and Smiley tended to more pressing matters, matters that would earn them a lot of money.

"Cap, there's something weird about this one..." Ripper commented as he reached the dragons head, noticing the way it was staring up at him. There was something haunting in its eyes, they didn't contain the usual raw anger and hatred he was used to seeing from the dark dragons.

"I second that motion, Captain..." Smiley suddenly said from behind Deadeye as he stood looking over to Ripper.

"What, why?" the bear grumbled, turning to address the crocodile whom currently had his hands inside the dragons genital slit.

"This here is a girl dragon..." Smiley affirmed.

"Girl dragon? Ain't no one ever seen or heard of one of them..." Deadeye almost laughed but was cut short when an unknown voice spoke up.

"I am most definitely female, Captain. If you don't mind, good sir...please get your grubby little fingers out of me!" the dragoness hissed, her crystalline blue eyes flaring briefly.

"Did...did the dragon just talk?" Longshot stammered in surprise.

"Yes, tHe dRagOn did just talk...my name is Nessa, if you must know...dumb bipedals" Nessa sighed, wincing as the harpoons still lodged in her flank shifted under the net.

Deadeye slowly approached the dragoness's head, standing before her and staring down into her bright blue eyes. A hand rubbing at his chin in thought, knowing his world was about to change drastically.