Two days out of port from Odelia, Jasmine looked out over the bow of the Briny Maid, scanning the horizon for whale sign. The crew was busy prepping the ship for when one was spotted, and soon Malowee sidled up to her, hands resting on the prow. 

  "Captain, we have confirmation to Starboard of anchovy schooling. Baleens will be rising to feed. It will be about an hour before we will see the deep ones. Want us to ready longboats?" He said in his smooth, sing-song voice that reminded her of trickling water. She appreciated this mer, and his company of hunters. They had a rapport that was mutually beneficial, and at times like this, she was happy to have struck the bargain between his people and her ship. 

  "Aye, ready them, but we are only taking one. We need room in the hold for the cephalopods: squid and octopus." She spoke to him in her own low, calm monotone. He nodded, and moved away from her as a short, barrel-chested man strode up to take his place. "Smitty. Your word?" She asked her First Mate.

  "Aye, Jas. You think we'll get coin at this new port? The Boys seem to be enjoying the land time, but I'm wanting to know more about that port. Think we can set up a trade business?" Smitty asked, looking up at the tall woman. 

  "You forgot already?? Kama has her claws in a tavern there, and I'm guessing she would be more than generous in payment for fresh meat from our nets and harpoons. Plus I'll see if i can offer wares that are available off the ship directly. The squid is already claimed. We'll do well on  this new land." She gave Smitty a clap on the shoulder, “Help Malowee set the longboats. Get the men to setting barrels for Anchovy, as well. We can net a few barrels of those tiny fish to sell at the market at the very least.” she smiled then, and folded her arms across her chest, “It only took us three days to find the whales! I hope we’re luckier in getting those damn Squid!” she still spoke in that low, calm monotone, but glanced sideways at Smitty who snorted and shook his head, “You know where the squid are, ya damn Drac! You just wanted out on the water again! Maybe take to wing?” he cocked an eyebrow at her, but then held up a hand, “Rhetorical I know.” He then swung around and headed down to the lower deck, shouting orders. 

Jasmine grinned again, and looked up and out at the sky, only skiffs of clouds blotted the sun, but that gave for a little easier hunting, without the sun reflecting mirages from the waves. Her mind went over the plans for the hunt, knowing that the chaos would start in less than an  hour, and that grin broke into a deep smile.

There came a shout from the Port of the ship, and one of her men pointed out and over the water. Here came the fish! On the WRONG side of the ship! She strode to the Starboard side, and looked out as far as her eye could see, looking for what may have caused the fish to appear on the wrong side!

As longboats were rushed to the Port side to lower to the water, Harpoons and nets both loaded, Jasmine watched as a dark figure rose from the water almost a kilometer away.. It rose, and rose, like the tentacled arm of a giant Squid, but the appendage was NOT a tentacle, but what looked to be a head and very long neck. Certainly no whale created that kind of entrance! She turned and shouted in a booming tenor, “All Hands! WARE THE STARBOARD! SERPENT AHOY!” she turned to watch as it swam closer and closer, the water splitting around it in more and more violent waves. 

Jasmine cursed then, long, and loud and clear. The deckhands all scattered as she landed on the wide and open deck, her form growing, shifting and elongating, sprouting large, leathery black wings, whipping tail and dark, and solid, flat horns from her now draconic head. She gave a screeching roar, and took to wing, heading to the Starboard side, to meet this new danger. 

The Briny Maid had seen many battles in her long illustrious career, and had been damaged to a point of full repair. In fact, was it the original ship any more? Only Jasmine, Smitty and a handful of others could tell for certain if any of the original was left after so long being repaired and restored. However, this battle was something she’d not seen before. 

An Oceanic Dragon had come upon the ship and her crew, hunting for the same whales that Jasmine was laying in wait for. To it, Jasmine’s ship was in its territory, and was deemed the enemy. It had to be destroyed! However, the closer it got to the Briny Maid, the clearer the danger to ITSELF was in! High above the ship flew a Dragon it had never encountered before. One in the AIR! The Dragon screamed at the black, shadowy mass that winged its way down toward it, an air-splitting challenge of rage, and a little fear. This dragon wasn’t as old as others of its kind in that area, but it was large, larger than the one that was dive-bombing it now, as it screamed. 

Jasmine, in her ancient dragon form, swooped down at the Blue Scaled Drac that bugled challenge at her, and in that swoop, breathed out a cone of penetrating shadow. She would NOT lose the Maid to a whelp from the ocean! She also would not let it near enough to harm her crew, either, with a breath weapon or physical attack. She let out no sound, no scream or roar, but the cone. The cone of breath fell from her maw with the ease and silence of a thick dark fog after a cold rainstorm on a hot day. The young dragon didn’t know what hit it!

The Oceanic Dragon felt this dark cloud of malaise roll over it, drawing out its energy. Its limbs began to feel heavy, as did the tail and folded wings at its sides. When it began to sink, it realized the effect came from the attacking Dragon above. The Oceanic Drac lifted its head one time before it sunk under the waves, and a cone of water, ice cold, shot up and out at Jasmine. 

Jasmine was hit square in the chest, getting knocked tail over snout in the air, tumbling as if a great gust of wind had tossed her aside. She saw the other sink below the waves, and was unsure if her breath had done its job, or if it was going for her ship and crew! So she winged back to the ship, calling out for the Mers, “It’s a Dragon! It’s under the water! See if it’s heading for the Maid, or if it is running!” her booming voice rolled across the sky as she flew overhead. She saw the men in the longboats, netting up hundreds of pounds of the small fish, and rowing back to the ship, as quickly as they could. Malowee bobbing up next to them as they hooked lines to the full nets to draw to the deck. He looked up and whistled sharp to get Jasmine’s attention and shouted, “It is retreating! But we have little time. It will come back, knowing what it’s up against now!” He nodded, and dove below once again, disappearing. 

‘I also know what I’m dealing with now’ Jasmine thought to herself. She circled the ship, looking down into the frothing water, the fish were jumping off the Port side almost a hundred meters away, and soon she noticed a ring of bubbles erupting in a circle around the largest mass. Whale sign.

She could feel the cold and pain from the breath weapon used on her now, her chest and gut aching. But this was not the time for giving in to an injury. She flew over the ship, and shouted, “Whale!” as the first of the giants of the deep rose, mouth agape, swallowing the tiny Anchovy with a tremendous splash. Soon smaller ones rose alongside it, grabbing all the fish they could in the wake of the behemoth’s initial attack. Three longboats singled out one of the smaller whales, and the fight was on! Once the animal had been caught, it was dispatched quickly, Jasmine swooping down and lifting it high into the air, to bring it to the deck of the ship. 

She landed as well, and the Maid, having done this kind of thing for many many years, only lowered in the water a fraction. The elementals at her beck and call, keeping the ship from sinking under so many tons of weight. Jasmine shifted as she turned to head back to her cabin, stumbling as the pain fully encompassed her now, but one of the Crew was right at her shoulder, holding her up. 

“You need the drought, Cap’n?” he asked, his words hushed as not to alert EVERYONE on the ship to her wounds. She nodded to him, and motioned to the Captain’s Quarter’s door, “It was a  young dragon, otherwise I’d be in the water right now, fighting for my life.” She explained as they made it into the cabin, where she pulled open a large drawer by the door. Inside were a multitude of bottles, all of various colors, textures and sizes. She grabbed a green swirling one, almost a cup’s worth of liquid inside, popped the cork and took three long pulls, swallowing each pull with a grimace on her face.

The Crewman nodded, and left her in peace. She watched him close the door, then slumped on one of the chairs closest to her, looking at her hands, balling them into fists as the pain grew considerably, then began to wane, the healing potion doing the job it was meant for. She was just about ready to stand, many minutes later, when a sharp knock came to her door, “Open!” she called out, standing then, serpentine in movement, lithe in stature.

The door opened to Malowee standing with two of his men, “The dragon is almost a mile away, but you scared it good. It’s only trailing the Briny Maid now, and snapping up all the offal we are chumming into the water. That is good, too, it’s keeping the Sharks away. We don’t want another Remdish Shoal to happen again.” he grinned at her, as did the other two.

“No, of course not. We lost good men that day, and good women.” She frowned as she remembered the two Werewolf females she had hired on. They knew what they were getting into, but they wanted to try their sealegs, anyway. The fact they were alone in a longboat with just their oars to fend off a huge school of sharks was still eating at Jasmine after all those years. When the men tried to save the Weres, the school knocked over both longboats, and systematically ate all four men and women. “It is Nearing dark, and we’ll need watch set above and below water, in case the Dragon finds courage in the night. I’ll be ready if it does.” She exited the Cabin, Malowee and his men in tow.

Malowee motioned for his men to go, set up watches, and they hurried off, bare feet slapping on the smooth decks of the ship. Smitty found her then, heading up to the wheel, where the Wheelman stood, keeping the ship on course, out to the deeper water. Smitty spoke in a lower tone than normal, “You back to good, Jas?” he asked, looking her up and down, making sure no sign of weakness came from her. When she looked down at him, over her nose, scowling, he looked back up at her with the same energy, “Ya know I’m just lookin’ out for my bread and butter.” He smirked and winked, making her stern gaze soften.

“And This bread and butter is doing fine. I got the Drought in time before I started getting seriously ill.” Her low, calm monotone stayed between the two of them, and soon, they were standing next to the Wheelman. Jasmine looked at the map that was splayed out next to the wheel, on a portable table top, allowing the Wheelman to follow the route more accurately. “How much further?” She asked, and looked to the young man standing there, holding the ship steady on course, “One day. The area we are going to is supposed to have squid of all sizes, but also…maybe more of the kind that attacked us. Certainly sharks and orcas, as well. He looked up at her in trepidation, “I suggest we take her to the sky, if the water dragon cannot fly. IF” he said with a dip of his head.

Smitty looked at the younger man, and cocked an eyebrow, “Aye, we’ve not had the elementals at our hull in some time. Maybe we need to give her wings for a day or more.” He looked at Jasmine then, nodding, “It’s a wise decision. We can leave longboats for the catch, and to keep watch below?” 

Jasmine pondered this, and nodded, “Get Lilana and Benj. They’re the ones with the calling. We’ll need to keep her in the air at least 3 days.” She looked to the young man at the wheel, “Excellent Idea. Extra serving of grog for you tonight, Miles.” She gave him a curl of a grin, and  he beamed from ear to ear, quite happy with the fact he got extra libations!

Once the ship was ready, a day later, and Malowee reported the sighting of the Dragon from the Ocean was nowhere to be seen, or heard underwater, Jasmine gave the signal to lift to the air. Lilana and Benj were at each end of the Briny Maid, arms in the air, chanting to make sure the bound air elementals were lifting the ship correctly. They soared up and up, far enough to be out of reach of even an Ancient Dragon’s breath weapon. When they got to cruising height, they aimed for the deep water. They flew over dark patches, light patches, small islands and many miles of nothing but sea. When they lowered to see if they were in the right spot, Jasmine lept overboard, then swooped up in full wing again. The crew would never get over seeing her do that act of stupidity, to their minds. What if she didn’t shift in time, and hit the water, breaking her damn neck?? But when she lifted up and past the deck, her entire wingspan longer than that of the ship itself, they all took in deep breaths of relief and exhilaration. The hunt was on. 

Longboats lowered to the water, and oared out a ways. From there, Malowee and his men each took a crewmate, to lead them down into the deepest water for the bounty there. Each hunter, other than the Mers, were treated with potions to help them either breathe under water, or to not have to breathe the entire time down. The one thing that almost always was needed along with that, was a potion for them to survive the Environment. Crushing pressure could kill a man if they weren’t prepared. Jasmine was a Potions Master of old, and old hat at making sure her men could survive the environment at the very least.

She kept an eye on the sky, and the remaining crew an eye on the water. Hours went by, and nobody thought anything of it. Jasmine’s ears would twitch on occasion, hearing how they were faring below. The way she had established communication was simple. She was a creature of the plane of shadow. She could manipulate them for very specific uses. One of which was communication, to talk into a darkness, a cupped hand, or any deep shadow that would obscure most everything put to it. And that was how she knew her people below the waves were doing just fine. 

There were instances of encounters with a shark, or four, but they were all chased away by the Mers, who had their own way of communicating under the water. By late afternoon, all four longboats were full of nets full of squid, Octopus and other large fish. Including a fish that looked like a sunfish, but wasn’t vertically round, but horizontal, like a Ray, but it was no ray Jasmine had ever seen before. All of the catch was lifted to the ship’s deck, where the whale from before had already been stripped down to the bones, the bones hung over the rails to dry, and the deck cleared for more seafood. This was indeed a very lucrative week, with two days until they were expected back. 

Once all of the crew and longboats were hauled aboard, she gave the order to fly back to Odelia’s port. Everyone, including herself, to be prepping the catch, and sorting out the items she was tasked with fetching in the first place, Squid Ink Sacks. She was able to secure almost 15, and counted out, totalled 13. Those she set aside in a special crate just for Jhilsara, the Were she had met in Kama’s tavern. By the time the Briny Maid landed in the water off the shore of Odelia, all of it was packed in barrels, crates and burlap bags. The whale bone, including baleen, was all dried with the help of the air elementals, and all was ready to trade out of ship or her small building in the village. 

However, she frowned to herself, concerned for the fact there was an Ocean Dragon not even 3 days away from the shore of this small city.