This fun commission was drawn by theowlette! I'll add a link to her gallery once she posts it. And if she does the kind of mass upload she's been talking about, I might have a lot of links to update >_> Anyway! I've always been a big fan of the Temeraire series, which all of you should totally read if you haven't, so naturally I thought it'd be fun to put Hueroc into harness. He's a natural after all ;) That said, while he's pretty big compared to anthros, dragons in that series get [i]big![/i]

The Red Arrow breed might never have been brought into service if Britain hadn't needed every dragon it could scrounge up for the war. Even the largest barely made middle-weight, and they simply couldn't keep enough muscle on to carry a large crew complement or many supplies. Though fast and maneuverable provided they weren't overburdened, their size and bright coloring made them less than ideal scouts, and in a more peaceful world--or one where Britain had more combat-weight dragons--they might have stuck to transporting small groups of VIPs, or even staffing some distant embassy, with their intelligence and easygoing nature. But combat? Sure they could keep away from larger middle-weights and heavyweights, but staying out of range didn't win battles, and unless they found some lone light-combat beast to pursue, getting into another dragon's range was a quick way to be bullied off the battlefield.

But the Aerial Corps needed every dragon they could get, and if Hueroc could do [i]something[/i] in a battle, they'd send him with the rest. That wasn't to say that Hueroc [i]enjoyed[/i] fighting; there were far too many bullets whizzing about for his taste, which stung like mad and were such a bother to have extracted, and what if they hit one of his precious little crew? Not to mention the giant dragons taking up the sky who could claw him in half with one swipe! But he knew everyone wanted to contribute, and he certainly didn't want to seem a coward who wouldn't fly to help his friends--and besides, apparently the French formations had recently been seen using more lightweights and fewer middle-weights, and lightweights were exactly what he could handle. Unlike bigger, heavier dragons, he could usually keep up with the quick little beasts, turn and spin just as fast if they tried to evade him, and he had the size advantage to chase them off if they got close. He could keep them from harrying the sides of his larger comrades so they could focus on the enemy heavy-weights, and he knew how important that was.

It'd better be. He'd take a quiet, easy patrol flight over a battle any day. But into battle they had to fly, so they would go, and hope that his speed and his claws could keep them alive...