The Virtue and The Dragon
    Fletcher scanned the horizon again through his pair of well worn binoculars, the light from the open, unclouded moon shone bright on the empty landscape around him. The emptiness of the Salt seemed to stretch on in every direction; there was no sign of anything passing through this part of the territory. He had told his crew that he would take watch while Prospera and Lucius disembarked to try to find something on sand and salt bottom of that myth once called the âsea.â It had only been myth for Fletcher, he was long born in the midst of this world. This world where water was more valuable than air. Bullets more precious than company. And fuel for their land ships more treasured than fuel for their own bellies.
       âYou seen anything out there at all?â
Fletcher finished his scan before dropping the farseeing glasses. He turned and saw Lucius, his first mate, had set himself next to his captain on the top of the lead ship of mix-matched and oddly shaped vehicles that traveled the expanse of the Salt known as The Virtue.
âNothing. Nothing but Salt as far as the eye can see,â Fletcher muttered with a stiff sigh as he righted himself from where he was lying on his stomach, stiff from remaining in the position for so long. âI thought you were with Prospera?â
âI was,â Lucius said, his voice trying hard to keep an optimistic edge that resounded too forced and false to be comfortable. âWe found nothing. She said she was going to keep searching for a while longer.â
âShe sent you back here?â Fletcher asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend.
âShe said I was no use to her. Rather rude, actually.â
âGive her some space,â Fletcher said. âOur boatswain has much on her heart. I doubt she will be willing to listen to your usual antics.â
âAnd now you are the one being rude!â Lucius said with a laugh, but sobered quickly enough, staring out at the expanse around them, seeing the small flicker of light as Prospera continued her search, the sound of her cycle echoing dully to the stopped Virtue.
âYou are certain that this is the place that we were told to be looking?â Lucius asked, his voice was low and serious.
âEnzo checked the charts over. There is no mistake in his calculations,â Fletcher assured. âIf there is a mistake it was in the information given, not the charts.â
âDonât tell Prospera you said that,â Lucius warned, rubbing the side of his face as if remembering strikes there in the past. âShe gets in a way when someone questions her, even if she is retelling the words of others.â
Fletcher only nodded as they continued to watch the light from the cycle flash from place to place as the driver searched. Searched for any sign of her sisterâs kidnapper.
Prospera was from the Spire. An oasis in the middle of the Salt that few believed existed out of the dreams of water starved madmen. A place where water flowed from a thin mountain and green was found in abundance. It was a place that was too good to be true and many lost their lives perusing the fable of such a place.
It was no fable, as Fletcher and his crew of pirates and oil drillers found.
They now patrolled the border of the Spire, raiding those foolish enough to make it this close to the treasure of the Salt. Trading resources and fuel for water and food. It was a good deal, Fletcher thought. He had been in far worse places.
It was on one of their returns from their long digs that they heard of another ship that had been causing havoc in the Salt. A great black ship that belched fire and acid and was uncanny at finding the scouts sent from the Spire, known as Seeds, and destroying their convoys.
It was on its latest raid that they finally were found out, as one of the Seeds escaped and was running through the Salt to find help. The Virtue found her first and she told them of the horrors she had seen. The dead bodies of her sisters that were sent before her. The fire and death. The Dragon.
The girl was with their doctors now and Fletcher and his crew were scouring the Salt for any sign of this trespasser.
It had been two days since they started their search.
âYou donât think The Dragon is real?â Fletcher said, but he knew the answer. There was many on his crew that had brought forth doubts at the girlâs story.
âShe was weak from hunger and mad from thirst when we found her,â Lucius admitted, speaking in a whisper as if he was afraid his words might be carried to ears that would kill him for suggesting such a thing. âI am only worried that we are chasing shadows out here.â
âNever thought I would hear you echoing Avernusâ words to me,â Fletcher commented with a wry smile.
âOur Quartermaster is skeptical and greedy.â Lucius said, mirroring the expression on his captainâs face. âBut you know he has a good nose for things like this.â
âThings like what, exactly?â
âThings like knowing when it is wild geese we are chasing down.â
Fletcher let out another sigh and looked through the binoculars again, this time watching Prospera. He watched as she dismounted her cycle and ran her hand through the dark salt.
âAs you said, Avernus is a skeptic.â Fletcher said. âBut Prospera knows her fellows of the Spire. If she says the girl is telling the truth, I believe her.â
Fletcher heard a sigh at his side and felt Lucius adjust position.
âI just hope you have a good way of explaining that to the crew when we have been out here for seven days with no sign of any Dragons.â
âWell, we havenât been out here for seven days, we have been out here for two and I think they can survive having their patience exercised,â Fletcher bit back, dropping the binoculars to send a sharp glare at his first mate who put his hand up defensively at the look with an apologetic smile.
It was as he was watching the face of his first mate when the pale blue of the moonlight was replaced with a hard red light. The smile gone in an instant and his hand flew to the gun at his side. Fletcher spun back around so violently he nearly jumped off the top of the vehicle.
There was a red burning flare that had shot up from where Prospera was searching. The white light of her cycle was racing toward them as the red continued to shoot up into the air. They couldnât hear the hiss of the signal flare, but they heard a loud grating clank that echoed over the Salt.
Fletcher peered into the darkness of the night and saw sand beginning to bulge up, as if a great serpent was rising up out of the ground below them.
The mound of salt and sand broke away and a large black land ship appeared on the horizon, letting out a large jet of fire as the thing roared up out of the place it had been hidden below the ground. A sheet fell away from it like a snakeâs egg as it turned to chase Prospera, the red from the fire illuminating the Salt and casting long shadows down to them as the cycle streaked forward to where The Virtue was waiting for her return.
âAngles of grace! Here she comes!â Lucius yelled out.
Fletcher said nothing. He had to get the ship moving.
He shimmied down the side of the vehicle and jumped into the wheelhouse, grabbing the string for the horn and pulling it hard and fast. The blast of the horn shook the land ship, two long blasts to signal the warming.
All hands on deck.
The Virtue roared to life herself, the motors in the vehicles that made up her parts all starting as one. The wheel twisting and turning as the helmsman took control over their linked system. Fletcher heard smaller blasts of horns going off to signal that they were linked it, and Fletcher waiting until he heard all seven of the otherâs signal before he made the final signal. Locked and secure.
The Virtue lurched forward, all her mechanisms working as one. Fletcher got out of the wheel house and drew his shotgun out from the strap on his back. He climbed back onto the top to find that Avernus, Enzo and Phoebe were already standing ready with Lucius, all armed and alert, looking out at the Salt, watching as The Dragon approached them, jetting more fire and letting out another loud roar in challenge.
âI guess you lost that wager, Avernus! There she is! Coming in hot!â Lucius whooped, but there was a nervous edge to his voice that Fletcher knew would not be resolved until Prospera was back onboard.
âNow is not the time for this, you fool!â Avernus shouted back, the light from the approaching ship lighting his face and twisting his features with more shadows. The marked tattoo of the third eye on his head standing out ominously in the night. âCaptain! Your orders!â
âWe need Prospera secured and armed as soon as possible!â Fletcher called out over the noise. âGet the guns and crew ready for a fight! We are off to slay a dragon!â
âAye aye, sir!â The gathered called and moved to their tasks.
Fletcher moved to the signal light and flashed a formation code to the helm who was keeping all the vehicles moving as one. The links and bars that held The Virtue together moved and shifted as the flotilla move to accommodate the formation. The landships stopped in a net position and started to aline with the trajectory of the other barreling towards them.
They had to take the thing alive.
Fletcher navigated over the walk rails between the ships to find the docking section for the scout cycles. Prospera had doubled back and was matching the speed of the accelerating flotilla. Fletcher was nearly deafened by the signal horn from the docking car and the side panel opened. She looked up briefly to see Fletcher watching her and gave a fast nod, pulling her cycle into its bay.
Within moments, she was at his side, her rifle in her hands, flanked by Lucius.
There was no time to speak to each other as a signal horn from the helm blasted.
âEveryone get down! We are about to collide!â Fletcher called out, dropping to the metal below him and taking hold of one of the many secure rails that were there for that very purpose. He didnât even have to think of how to loop his arms and belt against the rails. The Virtue was no stranger to this sort of violence and slamming herself into other landships.
The roar of The Dragon was drowned out by the smashing of metal against metal as it was caught between the two sides of the flotilla, crashing into the back of their net of thick steel bars at the back. The Virtue lurched backwards as the momentum of The Dragon slammed against them.
Fletcher grunted as he was pushed from one side to the next as the ship changed direction to close off the front of the net so that their now captured target could not escape the way it had come in. Within moments, another loud clang, signaling that the bars in the front had been relined vibrated through the landship and another blast from the helm told them that they were safe to begin boarding and disassembling their target.
Fletcher unfastened himself and stood, along with the other. His crew all shouting and cheering in victory at their catch, looking over to see the black landship in their clutches.
A shot of super heated blue and red flame licked up the side of The Virtue. The heat made Fletcher flinch back in surprise and pain, just avoiding getting scorched himself. The Dragonâs engines roared and The Virtue structure shook as it worked to free itself, slamming its wheels back and forth to try to shake free from its captivity.
The fire flew out from it again.
âIt will tire itself out before long,â Lucius commented, watching as the bars lowered underneath the machine and linked together to prepare to lift the thing off the wheels. âI wouldnât risk my good looks on that just yet.â
âYou would risk that for nothing!â Prospera said, her voice was filled with anger, her eyes flashing at the man speaking. âWe have no time to wait for this! They have my sister inside!â
A gunshot ricochets off the hull of The Virtue and the pirates lunged down to avoid the fire.
âLive fire! Live fire!â Fletcher shouted out and, almost in a direct echo, one of the vehicles let out a signal to inform the rest of the flotilla that guns were being shot.
Prospera and Fletcher had their guns in their hands instantly, moving to the edge, cautious of flames to appear at any moment.
As they looked into the net, they saw about six masked and begoggled raiders climbing on the top of The Dragon; two of the six were crouched down with long scoped rifles, aiming and shooting up at any heads that appeared in looking at them, while the other four slinked and slid to the exhaust pipes on each side of the landship with large gallons at their sides. They moved over the ship like cockroaches, all too familiar and fast as they moved around the coal black machine.
Prospera took a shot at one of the men with the jugs, catching him in the center of his back. He screamed in pain and dropped the jug, a clear liquid sloshing out and splattering on the metal around him. Everywhere the liquid touched started giving off a dark smoke and the metal underneath it hisses and softened at an alarming rate.
âOh, defend us. Itâs Sirenâs Tears!â Fletcher reported, recognizing the freakishly corrosive acid immediately.
âI wonât let them escape!â Prospera growled. âCome on, Fletcher! To battle!â
Fletcher reached out and took her rifle without looking at her at all, he knew this formation as well as the formations of his ship. He got as low as possible, bracing himself against the hull and peering at the men below, he had to take out the snipers.
âFour shots,â Prospera said.
âMore than enough,â Fletcher muttered, lining up the first shot.
The rifleman on the right swung his scope to look at the standing Prospera, completely missing Fletcher. It was the last mistake he made.
Fletcher took the shot, the gun slamming against his arm and the scream of the rifle leaving a small and familiar ring in his ear as the light flashed out with the bullet. The bullet found its target just as Prospera leapt off The Virtue and landed on The Dragon.
The other rifleman swung around to try to line up a shot to take, but Prospera was on him faster. Her knife was out in her hand as she pushed the barrel of the gun out of her way, the shot going far stray. She let out a fearful shriek and bared her golden fangs at the man in her clutches.
Fletcher couldnât see the manâs face through the mask, but he did hear his scream as she plunged her dagger into his chest and rent it out with a spray of gore that colored her clothing in the wind that charged around the flotilla.
With the last sniper down, Fletcher secured the rifle and jumped down into the pit as well. His boots knocked heavily against the hull of the other landship and he drew back out his shotgun.
âTake the ones on the port side!â Fletcher called to Prospera, checking to see that he was loaded. âIâll take the starboard!â
âAye!â Prospera shouted back then slid down the side to attack the two on her assigned side.
Fletcher linked his belt into a side railing and slid down to the side of The Dragon, shotgun at the ready. The raider on the side was working frantically, pouring the acid down into the funnel near the exhaust piping. Fletcher lined up the shot just as the man noticed his movement. He took the shot but the man had ducked just a moment too quickly, the bullet pinging off the armour plating of the machine he was still linked to.
The raider had righted himself before Fletcher could fire off another shot, leaping with practiced dexterity on to the pirate captain. They grappled savagely, Fletcher desperately trying to throw the other man off of himself while hands struggled to get side arms free for use.
Fletcher took hold of his saber, but the raider predicted his movement, grabbing at it as well. The heat from the side of the machine made Fletcherâs body slick with sweat and the raider couldnât keep him trapped down. The sword came up out of its scabbard in Fletcherâs hand and was swung down at the raiderâs crown.
The man was quick. He twisted his body to move Fletcher out and around, pinning himself between the armour of The Dragon and Fletcherâs body. The sword swung down all the same, but instead of biting into flesh and cloth, the blade struck the dark metal, splintering the shining weapon as it left nothing more the a scratch on the outside of the vehicle.
The hilt fell out of Fletcherâs hand as both the combatants covered their faces to shield them from any metallic shards. The closeness to the other man allowed Fletcher to catch a rasping laugh of triumph from the other.
He was out of weapons.
The raider recovered first, swinging Fletcher back around and bashed his head against with the side of The Dragon. Fletcher growled, forcing himself to keep focused as his vision swam dangerously and his head pounding in agony from the strike.
He struck at Fletcherâs face while scrambling for the belt that held the man in place. Fletcher kneed him in the side while tearing at the otherâs hands to keep himself cemented to the side.
Then there was a horrible sucking sound from the mounted exhaust pipe. A pipe that was pointing right at the two of them.
Fletcherâs was sure if the other man heard the noise, but Fletcher acted first.
Fletcher let go of the hands of the combatant, and slammed his full weight against the manâs side, twisting him in front of the pipe.
It was not a moment too soon.
The Dragon roared a wet and sloshy sound and where fire was shot before, clear liquid sprayed out of the pipes as heave as a downpour. Fletcher ducking into the raiderâs chest as a shield against the acid as the other man shrieked in pain as the corrosive acid worked its way through his back.
It was easy for Fletcher to shove the man off of him, the raider falling down under the wheels and out of his sight. But he was too early.
A blinding pain ripped through his arm and chest. Fletcher scream matched that of his attacker and he fell heavily against the strap on his side, desperately wanted to grip where the acid was on him, but he had just enough mind to know not to touch it. The hateful liquid burned like a fire, making his skin pop and blister, sticking to his clothes that were dissolving like sugar. The smell of the iron around him rotting and melting only added to his lightheadedness from the pain.
His teeth were chattering together as he tried to take in breath. His vision darkened. The last conscious thought he had before the darkness overtook him completely was if The Virtue had gotten The Dragon off the ground, which of the vehicles would be the one to crush him.
-
Fletcherâs first conscious thought once the darkness pulled away was that the afterlife sounded a lot like Melanie and Phoebe bickering.
He opened his eyes to see the familiar ceiling of the medical car in The Virtue. His arm and cheek ached dully, but the searing agony was faded.
He turned his head to look at the room around him. The twin doctors, Melanie and Phoebe, were both there as he had heard and, indeed, were bickering as usual. He looked at the other bed that the two were standing over and saw an unfamiliar face resting there. It was a woman had dark hair and the delicate features, features that both Prospera and the other women from the Spire shared.
Theyâd got her.
Fletcher let out a sigh of relief and closed his eyes again.
âYou always wake up too fast.â
Fletcher opened his eyes again to see Phoebe kneeling down next to his bed, giving him a half grin.
âYou would heal faster if you just let yourself sleep,â she went on, her dark curly hair bouncing with the movement of the vehicle.
âItâs not like that is my fault,â Fletcher said back, his voice was raw from his screaming and parched from lack of water. âI am sure you could wake the dead with the way your sister and you argue.â
âWell, we will not have to try that today. You live. The girl lives. No one else was seriously injured,â Phoebe recounted, pleased with the words. âIâd say it was a successful rescue.â
Fletcher looked down at his chest and arm.
Resting on his burns were slices of bright oranges. Fletcher stared at them in confusion.
âWhyâŚ?â
âMiracle fruits, those little things are.â Phoebe said, starting the familiar rhyme, but her sister spoke up before she could complete it.
âKeeps you from scurvy and other nasty diseases, delicious to the palate and it counters the effects of Siren Tears,â Melanie said, shaking her head in small wonder.
âBut donât eat those,â Phoebe warned with another smile. âThey are soaking up that nasty stuff and if you think Siren's Tears will do a number on the outside of your bodyâŚâ
Phoebe let the rest of the thought play out with a raise of her eyebrows and a puff of her cheeks. She then changed the subject to the matters of the ship. Prospera was in command while he was in medical, as expected. Avernus was the one that dragged him to them. The amount of damage done to the hold. The rate that The Dragon was being disassembled. Normal ship business.
Fletcher just closed his eyes and listened to the voice of the doctor as it mixed with the rumble of the wheels underneath him.
52 Short Stories in 52 Weeks Challenge
Week 3 â Retelling a Fairy Tale
St. George and the Dragon
Special thanks to Sheva (Â @shevathegun ) for assistance with editing!












