John Ringo - Emerald Sea

He automatically corrected as he entered the dead air behind the sails and then he was on final. At what seemed well past the last moment, the LSO waved at the deck and Herzer pulled back simultaneously on all four reins, dropping Chauncey onto the deck like a rock.

He sat there, panting, and ignored the cheers, just quivering in reaction.

“Four line,” Jerry said, patting him on the leg. “But not bad. Hop her over to the catapult.”

“You mean I have to do that again ?” Herzer gasped as the cargo nets were lifted up and out of the way.

“Welcome to maritime aviation,” Jerry replied with a chuckle.

Herzer did three more landings then switched from Chauncey to Donal. He stripped off the leather helmet the sailmaker had constructed as the wyvern was brought up from below and watched Koo coming in for a landing.

“Herzer,” Jerry called as the wyvern was hopping down the ramp. “Vickie’s on sweep. I want you to go up with her. You need to get some experience with unpowered flight.”

Herzer forbore to mention that he’d already had some on the way because he knew what the warrant was talking about. Figuring out how to stress the dragons as little as possible was as important in its own way as learning to land on the ship.

Herzer approached his new mount cautiously and let it get to know him. Like horses the dragons tended to get used to one rider, but since Treviano had decided he wasn’t up to landing on the carrier, Donal had been switched around extensively and it took the new rider phlegmatically.

Herzer mounted, hopped the wyvern onto the launch platform and again had the tremendous rush of the launching. He then pointed the dragon into a slow, upward spiral towards the distant dot of Yazov high above and forward.

It took nearly thirty minutes for him to reach her altitude and when he got there he discovered that Vickie had found a thermal and was coasting in a circle. Donal managed to insert himself into her vortex and followed the pattern of the other wyvern more or less automatically.

The dragon-riders had a complex set of hand signals that amounted to one-handed sign language and, rather than shout across the distance, Vickie made a querying sign.

Herzer thought long and hard and managed to dredge up the sign for “training” to which Vickie motioned an assent. She pointed down and to the east of the ship and off in the distance he could see a group of whales moving southward. Looking around he saw that the sea was patched with life. There was a large school of baitfish to the southwest that was being harried by birds and what looked to be much larger fish. He pointed to that and motioned at the wyvern with the sign for food but Vickie just shrugged. The ship had onboard facilities for catching fish, a large seine net that could be laid out by the ship’s boats as well as harpoons for larger game, but she clearly thought it a waste of time.

Very far off to the left there was a smudge of land that was probably the coast. It occurred to Herzer, for the first time, that despite the fact that they were paralleling the coast, they weren’t staying close in-shore and he didn’t know why. He was sure Commander Mbeki could tell him when he landed, assuming he remembered to ask. In the same direction there was a band of water that was a subtly different color than that which the ship was in.

Finally he just paid attention to the flying. Donal was gliding well, maintaining altitude with only occasional flaps of his wings and breathing easily. Herzer had already noticed that when the dragons tired they tended to heat up and breathe much more heavily. Donal was still cool to the touch and exhibiting no signs of trouble.

The ship had passed under their constant circle and Vickie made a gesture to the south so they dropped out of the thermal and glided in the wake of the ship. She was looking from side to side and finally found what she was looking for in a group of vultures that were coasting upward. The thermal was off the path of the ship, southeast of its present position, but not far from where it would pass. They banked gently in the direction of the vultures and before they had lost more than five hundred meters they entered the new thermal and spiraled upward on easy flaps of the dragon’s wings.

This pattern continued for, by Herzer’s estimate, another three hours until a flag at the mainmast of the ship commanded both of them to return. The ship turned towards the wind, which was from the northwest, and they made an easy landing, Herzer going first.

“Well, that was interesting,” Herzer said as he climbed off Donal and let him be led below. The sun was starting to set in the west and the deck of the ship was already shadowed, which was why they had called in the sweep riders.

“Anything to see?” Commander Mbeki asked.

“Not unless you count fish and whales,” Vickie answered.

“Big school of fish in towards land,” Herzer amplified. “Can I ask a question?”

“Go ahead,” the commander replied.

“Why are we so far out?”

“There’s a big current, called the Stream, that hooks around Flora and heads up the coast. It’s like a river in the ocean. If we stayed in it, we’d take twice as long to go south; it was worth sailing out to the east to avoid it. When we reach the Isles we’ll have to sail back into it since the mer’s last reported position was on the western edge of the Isles where the Stream passes between Flora and the Isles.”

“I think I saw it,” Herzer said. “The water was different looking.”

“Probably where the school was,” the commander offered. “The migrating fish on the coast tend to follow the edge of the Stream. Plankton get caught in the eddies, there’s more growth potential in the interface of different temperature waters, and lines of seaweed build up there and provide shelter.”

“How much longer to get to the Isles, sir?” Jerry asked.

“Well, if we don’t have to get off course to launch dragons all the time, about another two days,” the commander said with a grin. He looked up at the sky where high clouds had started to cross the sun and frowned. “That’s assuming the weather holds and we don’t have to heave to.”

Herzer slumped into the chair in the wardroom and dragged his helmet off, rubbing at his sweaty head. He’d thought about getting a shower but he was just too bone weary at the moment.

The door opened up and a steward stuck his head through. It was a new one, a tall, lanky fellow who looked both young and old. Herzer was sure he wouldn’t be able to place his age in the right century.

“Get you anything, sir?” the steward asked.

“God, would you?” Herzer grinned. “I thought sword work was hard but riding those damned things is harder than it looks. Water? Maybe some tea?”

“Coming right up,” the steward said. “Maybe a bite to eat? There’s some cold pork and some ship’s crackers I can get my hands on.”

“That’d be great,” Herzer said, leaning back as the steward left.

The man was back in no time and true to his word he brought both water and herbal tea as well as a platter with meat and crackers.

“Thanks,” Herzer said, taking a long pull of the slightly metallic-tasting water and then a bite of cracker. “Join me?”

“Not done, sir,” the steward said, but then picked up one of the crackers and took a bite. “Mostly.”

Herzer chuckled and took another swig of water.

“You’re new.”

“The other guy busted his ankle on a ladder, sir.” The steward frowned. “I’m Seaman Annibale.”

“Got a first name, Seaman Annibale?” Herzer asked.

“Joel, sir.”

“Ever flown on a dragon?”