NOVEL NEXT Book 4, Chapter 16
At the beginning of this expedition, I'd opined that, if any boarding was happening, then it would be us getting boarded, and it would be a failure mode of aerial maneuvering.
Apparently, I needed to have more faith in myself, because after I, uh... went feral and ate my cousin's throat... I was absolutely full of piss and vinegar, and managed to clear the entire ship all on my own, slaughtering every sailor and marine aboard, while the fleet's battle with The Harpy raged on.
I finished clearing the ship far, far faster than The Harpy managed to clear the skies, though, and ended up climbing up the remains of the conning tower to find the remnants of the ship's control systems. Doing it properly would've taken hours, maybe even days, but with judicious use of Dragonblood Sorcery, I was able to control the whole ship by myself. Aiming the guns had been tricky, but more like learning to use a new limb than the sort of tricky that aiming guns was supposed to be; once I'd extended my control to the point where I could aim the guns myself, it quickly became intuitive, and I didn't miss a single shot as I began swatting frigates and corvettes out of the sky with proper Grigian naval guns. They kicked like mules, and boomed like thunder, but all the same, I couldn't help but think about how much better they'd be after I got done with them.
I grinned with snarling fangs as I unleashed The Fire Breath's titular weapon, managing to roast a pair of frigates that had come up to try a boarding action, and in the process, proving everyone wrong about this ship's- my ship's- titular weapon.
Initially, I'd worried that today would be an arduous exercise in Dangerous Tedium, where everything takes forever and is simple enough to let my mind wander, but also everything is dangerous enough that a single lapse in attention could get us all killed. And yet, here at the end of it all, standing atop the conning tower of my ship, that I had won by right of conquest, with the last stragglers being kept from fleeing by a few well-placed guided missiles... I found myself almost disappointed that we'd run out of pirates to kill.
"Is everyone okay?" I asked, as I landed on the deck of The Harpy. I still had some magicka left, and after drinking Silas' lifeblood, I'd found myself in the possession of a few new Sorcery spells, which, most importantly to me, included the Dragon's Wings and Dragon's Tail spells. Between those and the Skin, Claws, and Maw, I felt like I was getting pretty close to becoming a real dragon, like that pretender had aspired to. "Did they hurt you?"
"Three wounded, one casualty, zero fatalities," Talia rattled off. "Erica's sleeping off a concussion, and Emily's making sure it doesn't have any serious consequences."
"And the wounded?" I asked, looking around at the rest of my girls, trying to suss out which ones needed fixing most imminently.
"That would be us," Envy said as she climbed out of the cockpit, an angry red cut visible on her forehead; evidently it'd been spot-healed to stop the bleeding, but... Urgh. No, no, Envy simply wasn't a battle damage sort of girl; that'd have to go, at earliest convenience. Someone with more healing magic than me had to fix tha-
"Here," Nicky said, planting a glowing golden hand over the cut, and withdrawing it to reveal whole, unbroken skin, only slightly reddened in where the cut once was. "Good as new."
"Thank fuck," Envy muttered. "A cannonball hit the glass, and a single shard of it came loose, right into my face. If I was an inch taller, I'd need an eyepatch right now..."
"Who else?" I asked.
"Faith and I," Nicky said. "We're both Clerics, though, so we were able to heal ourselves. We're fine now."
"Just a little sore," Faith added.
"Right, well, let's get everyone somewhere safe, yeah?" I suggested. "I'll go set up a berth for The Harpy on The Fire Breath- which I want to rename at some point, but I think that can wait for a moment."
"Wait, you're keeping that thing?" Vanessa asked, blinking.
"It's a thousand-ton, two hundred foot flying warship," I said, frowning. "I managed to take it mostly intact, at the low cost of killing every living person on board. Of course I'm keeping it; aside from this thing being worth millions of dollars on its own, it's also the biggest airship in the entire world, and again, by right of conquest, it is mine."
"...You feelin' alright, champ?" Volex asked. "You're acting a little strange."
"I'm riding a bit of a high right now," I said. "You would be too, if you took an entire warship by storm as a one-woman boarding party." And, also, ripped out a half-dragon's throat with your teeth, but frankly, that was pretty normal behavior for a juvenile dragon- he challenged my dominance, I put him down, and I took his stuff. It just so happened that his stuff that was worth taking included the very blood in his veins. "Now c'mon, let's wrap this up before I inevitably crash."
We ended up shrinking The Harpy down, and stowing it inside my ship, which we would be riding back to port, once I got a more stable helm installed atop the conning tower. The promised crash, though, did happen, and after a long day of bloodshed and destruction, I sniffed out the captain's quarters, and found it quite lacking. This ship was practically made of magic, just to keep this goddamn rustbucket up in the air, and they couldn't spare a few tiddlywinks of magicka to make make this stateroom just a bit bigger? What kind of bedroom doesn't have enough floorspace for a bed big enough to fit all my girls?
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I was crashing, but not so badly that I couldn't expand the space a bit more, and conjure up a proper bed. Once it was ready, I called Volex back to my side, and had her round up all the others for bedtime.
While I waited, I gave some thought to who should get pride of place tonight. On the one hand, a proper aristocratic girl was the ideal, especially for a dragon like myself, who contained the blood of kings, but... Well, when I thought about it some more, that didn't narrow it down as much as I'd hoped. Really, all it did was exclude Faith, Talia, Envy, and Volex- and while Envy might be of common birth, her bearing was perhaps the most aristocratic of my girls.
Alright, well... Thinking about it? Envy can be my princess for tonight; she clearly wants to be a princess, after all, and after her performance today, she has most definitely earned some indulgence. But, well... I have two arms, so...
...I think Emily can have the second spot. Being as she is a daughter of a Duchess, I do believe she outranks the rest of my girls, and matters of rank aside, Emily deserves a distraction to keep her mind off of her patient; Erica was stable now, and simply needed to sleep, and there wasn't anything more that Emily could reasonably do at this point.
With the matter decided, I nodded to myself, satisfied with my decision, and smiled warmly at Envy as she walked in, her usual outfit replaced by sleepwear- a simple and short gown of black silk, hanging loosely from her shoulders by a pair of thin yet strong strings.
"You needed something, Cat?" Envy asked.
"It's bedtime, Princess," I said, before patting my lap. "Come lay down."
Envy blinked. "Uh. This is... Rather forward of you. Are we... This isn't sex, is it? I'm still a bit of a traditionalist about marriage, you know."
"No sex," I said. "Just cuddles. You and Emily get to be the Princesses with pride of place tonight, sleeping in my arms. The rest of the girls will have to content themselves with simply sharing the bed."
"Rest of the..." Envy trailed off, before pausing. "...You're dragonblooded. I somehow forgot you were dragonblooded. And there was that other dragonblood... Catherine, are you feeling like a dragon right now?"
"Are you feeling like a human right now?" I countered. "I do not feel like a dragon, Princess. I simply am a dragon. And tonight, I am going to sleep soundly among the most precious part of my hoard: my sweet, precious, beautiful girls."
"Is Cat acting like a dragon again?" Faith asked as she walked in, wearing her own sleepwear- an oversized white t-shirt that concealed a pair of shorts.
"And what of it?" I demanded, folding my arms.
"...Can I try that whole wing-hug thing I sometimes see Volex do with you?"
"Yeah, sure, you've more than earned it," I said, shrugging. "Good work out there, today, Faith. You managed to disable a capital ship in a single shot."
"What, you're not mad I shot out the controls on your new ship?" Faith asked as she climbed into bed- why was Envy still just standing there?- to receive the full-body arms-and-wings hug I'd promised her.
"Eh, it wasn't my ship yet when you did it. Besides, I can fix it easily enough."
"Fair enough," Faith said, her face nuzzled deep into my chest. "Mmm. Yeah, now this is the stuff. I dunno how much you're gonna remember when you come down from this, but we have got to do this more often."
"I'll consider it," I said, indulging my precious little gunner. She was a presumptuous one, but just one look at that freckly face of hers had me forgiving her for it in a heartbeat. With a face like that, who wouldn't be presumptuous.
"Alright," I said, slowly letting go of Faith. "Envy, your turn. Come here."
"Is this... normal, for her?" Envy asked.
"It'll be fine," Faith said, nodding. "She's been doing this once a week or two, ever since she started training up her Sorcery with Jason. It's very temporary, and she's back to normal the next morning, and doesn't remember doing anything the night before."
"Yet she's been waking up in a bed full of her teammates..?"
"Yeah, that started happening before we found out she's dragonblooded."
Cautiously, Envy climbed up into bed, crawling towards me on her hands and knees- offering me a wonderful look down her nightgown in the process- before, gingerly, laying down atop me.
She squeaked a little as I took hold of her in one arm, and tucked her under my shoulder and against my side, but settled down once I had her where I wanted her.
"...Really?" Emily asked, frowning as she walked into my lair for the night. "Is she having another dragon episode?"
"Eyup," Faith said, nodding.
"Come, Princess," I said, waving her over with my free arm. "I wish to cuddle."
Emily sighed, even as she obediently climbed onto the bed and into my arms. "We really have to get you looked at, you know?"
"You, Princess Emily, can gaze upon my beautiful majesty at any time you so wish," I decreed generously. "Such are the benefits of being mine."
"...You promise this will wear off?" Envy asked.
"It should, yeah," Faith said. "Just... Give it time. Check back in the morning."
I let my girls chatter on without me; it had been a long, exhausting day, and I had another one in front of me tomorrow morning. I needed my rest; the rest of the girls could find their way here on their own.