Chapter 9.6- The Seadragon's Roar

The scorpion bolts screamed past us as they managed to fire, only one of them coming so close that I had to lean to the side to make Igneel bank to avoid it. Good. We flipped, going a complete 360 and began shooting downwards again. These people had no knowledge of how to contest Dragons in the air. No real knowledge, rather. They knew how to use the scorpions but not well enough. Blanket fire was useless when you wasted all your payload in one shot and had to reload immediately after. It was while they were scrambling to do just that that we came upon them.

“Dracarys” I screamed, feeling Igneel’s rage course through my body like it was my own. In one blast, two ships were gone, and we banked left, setting a line of them ablaze. Just as we returned for the next sweep, they managed to finish their reloading from the way the scorpions were being wheeled in our direction again. “Soves, Igneel” I whispered, feeling fear course through my veins for the first time in this life. They’d baited us in. There was no way they finished reloading those tings that quickly. We were caught with our pants down because I didn’t take a second to think they might be smarter than they seemed.

While I felt fear, Igneel felt nothing but rage. His fire burned even hotter, and instead of banking away like I would have wanted and surely would have ordered if I had my wits about me, we turned into the attack. The first two scorpion bolts kissed at our wings but the hard scales on our forearms deflected them away before they could gain purchase on our soft membrane. I did not even truly notice when Igneel and I became one. I had no idea who had even initiated that connection this time. Did I reach out to Igneel out of fear, or did Igneel get fed up with my fear and reach out to me with his rage.

Either way, I saw through his eyes as we dodged out of the way of every scrorpion bolt sent our way while we bathed and showered the pirate’s ships with Igneel’s blazing blue flames. They had baited us in with this stupid formation. They had botched the first scorpion salvo with the goal of forcing us back in and even closer so they could get a better shot at Igneel. The weren’t just stupid pirates with scorpions. They had come here to kill a Dragon and nothing else. The thought made my rage overflow and our flames burnt even hotter as we swept the whole fleet from left to right.

The last ship with a scorpion to its name only managed to fire one bolt that a single gust of wind from our wings sent flying off course. Immediately afterwards, we had bathed it with flames, reducing it to kindling, and that was the fate that the entire pirate fleet we faced suffered. It was rare for naval battles to pass without survivors from both sides as ships could only move so fast, and captains off to the side could tell when things weren’t working and make their way away from the battle. In fact, that was the case now. The only differentiating factor was that Igneel and I were faster than any ship out there. They tried to begin waving white flags once they saw that we would not abandon our pursuit. Both Igneel and I chuckle to each other at the audacity before we lit them on fire with a single sweeping breath. All three fleeing ships were gone in a matter of seconds, and we swept around, heading back to the wreckage of the fleet to make sure there were no survivors.

These men would never get to report to whoever had given them this mission just how close they had come to killing a dragon today. Instead, their ashes would be a warning to all who dared try.

A/N: We get some dragon rage from Laenor here to round things off.