Fernando Pontes of the Faro looked at the uninhabitable green jungle to the west of his ship, as the sea to the east was more even more boring to look at for miles, though not by much. The Faro was a small trading ship on an expedition to the supposedly ruined city of Rio de Janeiro. After British reports got in that the place was not quite as ravaged as they had first thought, Pontes had spent the whole evening convincing his captain that Rio would be in dire need of supplies, and – more importantly – willing to pay thrice the price for the first trading ship to arrive.

Captain Vargas had asked him if he would gamble his career on it. His loyal gunner answered affirmingly, and it was settled. Lieutenant Bento was an older, more timid man who severely doubted this choice. They had had a rivalry since day one, as it was clear that Pontes was Vargas' favourite crew member, despite the twelve years of experience Bento had on him.

A red spot rose above the horizon. Feral dragons were not uncommon along the coastline, which was exactly why the Faro was equipped with a pepper gun along with more cannons than custom for this type of ship.

The red spot came closer rapidly, but the distance was hard to estimate. Pontes grabbed his binoculars, and gasped when he saw that the monster was approximately eight times the size of the usual ferals he had seen and heard of, and heading right for the ship. Shouts, a bell and commands were heard on deck in that order, and the pepper gun was quickly loaded.

"My, my, that's a beauty." said sailor Pontes. He had a bit of experience with dragons as he had fought in the war before he lost his right hand and retreated to trading ships. "Maroon with a purple belly and spikes all over. And a heavyweight!"

"I thought the Amazon area could not support dragons of over ten tons." said Bento.

"They can't, she looks ravenous. Probably escaped from a breeding grounds somewhere and tried her luck in the jungle."

"Perhaps we could lure the beast with food and escort her to Rio, where we can sell her back to the Força Aérea?"

"And how do you suppose we keep it with us?" interrupted Captain Vargas, drawn by the sudden activity on deck. "It looks nearly big enough to swallow the ship whole, and certainly hungry enough to try exactly that. Pontes, you will operate the pepper gun, and direct the other gunners should further action be needed. Don't waste gunpowder though, we can sell our extra barrels in Rio, if you are correct, that is."

"Aye captain, we will have her away in no time. I have dealt with the ferals here before, and when they get it in their head to attack a boat they all act the same."

The red dragon came into range. "Now she'll fly around the ship a couple times, provoking us to shoot and miss, and when we are reloading grab someone to take home and eat. Oh, stop trembling you cowards, I'm here to prevent that!" But the feral kept going straight for them, making no evasive manoeuvres whatsoever.

"She's either stupid, blind or crafty, and will be too close to be able to dodge us in a few seconds. Quatro… três…"

Bento interrupted: "Wait Pontes, she's saying something! Is that English?"

"Dois, um… Fire!" A big canister filled with pepper headed for the face, and hit her right on the snout.

"Impressive shot Pontes!" said Vargas while patting him on the back.

"No captain, while I do agree that my shot was perfectly accurate, it wasn't impressive at all. The beast did not see it coming, clearly hasn't been a feral for long."

"Captain Vargas, I am quite sure I heard her speak English, oughtn't we hold back fire and try to find out what she's saying?"

"Nonsense, do you know anyone aboard this ship who speaks that language? That monster barely uttered three syllables before the pepper hit it. I am convinced the crafty little demon was just trying to confuse us. Thank God that it did not fool Pontes! And now it's headed for shore again, do you want to turn around the ship for a dragon we will not be able communicate with and we will not be able to feed on the hope that we can make some island nation ten thousand miles from here happy?"

Bento paused briefly. "No captain. We will leave Rio with our cargo filled with gold."

"So we shall. Now get back to work."

Iskierka slowly flew back to shore, sneezing and coughing constantly. Her eyes were filling with tears, but they weren't all from the pepper.