A Dragon's Tale Ch. 03

"I've got an idea, but it'll take time and completely drain me," Rachel said softly to Ethan.

"Do it," Ethan said jabbing forward with his spear again.

Over the next ten seconds, Ethan noticed a slight change in the atmosphere that reminded him of how it had felt when Drousin had magically unshackled Alana. It made him shiver and his scales stand on end.

Then Ethan felt the air change.

Something went past him in the direction of the four leading bandits. In moments, frost appeared on their clothes and weapons. As one, they turned to run, but they weren't anywhere near fast enough. Ice covered their entire bodies and they fell.

Ethan looked behind him to see the massive amount of heat Rachel had pulled from their bodies concentrated into a single large fireball. Rachel launched this directly at Wurven, who raised his shield to try and block it. The shield burst into flames and moments later he cast it aside, flames still flickering from it as it burned. The moment the shield dropped, Alana sent her last arrow flying. It hit the chainmail squarely...

...But the broad, hunting arrowhead didn't penetrate the linked rings.

Ethan didn't think they could count on any more spells for a while as Rachel slumped to the ground behind him, panting for breath.

Wurven knocked the dangling arrow from his chest.

"You've spent all your efforts and none of you can get through my armor. Surrender now and I'll give you a quick death." He pointed at Ethan. "The other two we'll take more time over."

None of them moved, and the armored man charged forward. For a person wearing so much chainmail, he moved very quickly. Ethan, Alana and Rachel scattered. Ethan managed to land a thrust with his spear as he jumped aside. The spear point stuck into the chainmail, but the wide tip didn't force the riveted steel rings apart. The dragon landed and immediately leapt forward again, throwing all of his might behind a single thrust.

It wasn't enough.

Again his broad spear tip caught - but didn't break - the riveted steel rings of Wurven's armor.

"Stupid beast," he said. "What kind of idiot would attack chainmail with a short spear?"

Ethan surveyed the situation. Wurven was right. There was no way his spear was going to pierce that armor. Alana was out of arrows, although she was looking for more. Rachel, winded from her efforts, was panting for breath. Fortunately, the bandit was ignoring them and focusing on him.

The armored man attacked again with his longsword, handling the blade with practiced ease. Ethan jumped backwards and thrust out with his spear. Wurven parried the attack easily and then counter-attacked. Ethan tried dodging again, but wasn't fast enough and the sword opened a long, shallow cut on the dragon's arm.

"I might have me some dragon for dinner," Wurven taunted.

Behind him, Ethan could see the captive blond woman trying to get Alana's attention. She mouthed something that Ethan didn't catch and pointed to Wurven's side. Ethan followed her finger and saw it - the warhammer. They were designed to fight men in armor. It could do the trick if only he could get to it.

Wurven and Ethan sparred for a few minutes and it quickly became clear that the man was toying with him. He had several chances to kill Ethan, but was enjoying the sport of the kill. The dragon attacked time after time, but his spear just couldn't get through the chainmail to reach flesh. Ethan briefly considered running, but he couldn't leave the others behind - especially Alana.

After a few minutes, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Alana had pulled the arrow from the body of the first man she had shot.

"Hey shit-for-brains," Ethan said to Wurven. "You know what they say about men with big swords?"

He held his hand up and flexed his smallest finger.

Wurven stopped moving and flourished the sword in his hand. Ethan could see that the man had decided to finish toying with him. That was all the opening Alana needed. She drew her bow back, took careful aim and loosed the arrow. It struck true and sliced right through the leather strap holding the warhammer. Fortunately, he didn't notice the weapon fall to the ground.

Wurven did feel the arrow hit his side, however and laughed scornfully. "Stupid fucking elves. You've already tried that one - for the last time!"

He charged at Alana. Ethan dropped his spear and darted forward on all fours. As he ran, he picked up the fallen warhammer and leapt forward.

He reached Wurven just as the man reached Alana, winding up a horizontal slice that Alana would have no chance to dodge. Ethan raised the hammer and brought it down with all his might on the armored helmet. The helmet was strong, but woefully inadequate to stop a direct hit from a warhammer swung by a very angry dragon.

The helmet - and the skull underneath it - caved in. The bandit fell forward and Alana barely avoided being pinned under him.

Ethan stood up, panting. "We... we did it."

Alana ran forward and wrapped Ethan in a hug.

"An elven bitch in heat; disgusting," Rachel muttered, clearly still out of breath. Alana jumped away from Ethan as if he had given her an electric shock.

"Thank you," Ethan said to Rachel, despite her comment. He knew she had really made the victory possible.

"You're welco-" Rachel started to say with a smile, then her ring glowed and she stopped mid-sentence. She seemed to struggle with herself for several seconds before standing up. Something was different about her expression - an odd combination of vacant and determined.

"I'm exhausted, so I'll let you go this time," she said to Ethan. "The next time we meet, your hide is mine." Without another word, she turned and left the clearing.

"And the award for most delightful person of the year goes to..." Ethan said. Alana laughed, and sheer relief made Ethan and the blond woman join in. He took a sword from the ground and walked over to cut the ropes still hobbling the captives' feet.

"What's your name?" he asked the blond woman as he carefully sliced through the ropes.

"Elizabeth, Beth," she replied, rubbing her ankles. There was rope burn on her wrists and hands, but otherwise she seemed unharmed. "Thank you for rescuing us."

"No problem. Thanks for pointing out the warhammer. You probably saved our skins."

She smiled. "Well, then that makes us almost even."

Ethan moved to cut the ropes on the boy's feet, but the boy shrank away. The dragon crouched down to his level and looked him in the eye. "If I was going to hurt you, I wouldn't have had to fight those men. "

The boy hesitated for a moment, then look at his sister.

"He's a friend Charles, we can trust him," Beth said. The boy still seemed scared, but let Ethan cut his bonds.

"Are your horses nearby?" she asked.

"Um, not really," Ethan said.

"Hidden deep in the forest then?"

"We flew," Alana cut in as she joined them. "Or rather he flew. I rode."

Beth's jaw dropped. "You rode a dragon!"

"We didn't really think about getting back," Ethan said. "And before you get any bright ideas, there's no way I can carry more than one person."

"Multiple trips it is then," Alana sighed, a twinkle in her eye.

"Now wait just a minute..." Ethan started. "I assume those corpses had horses we could take."

"Not anymore." Alana pointed out. Rachel had taken off riding one horse and she was holding the reins of a half dozen others.

"So, I guess we're all flying back then," Alana said, trying to stifle a smile.

"You mean I get to ride a dragon?" the boy said, going from nervous fear to joyful wonder in an instant. "On a dragon?"

"How could you disappoint that face?" Alana asked.

"He's stubborn too," Beth added. "Won't take no for an answer."

"Yes but-" Ethan started.

"We do need to get back, and that's the fastest way," the elf pointed out.

"I've read that dragons can fly ten or fifteen leagues in a single hour," Beth exclaimed. "Is it true?"

Alana nodded. "It makes a mess of your hair though."

"You're forgetting the one with the wings needs to agree to this," Ethan said with a frown.

"Details," Alana said with a dismissive wave of her hand. Through their bond, he could tell she was really enjoying teasing him. Well two could play at that game.

"Of course, we can't leave the boy alone," Ethan said. "I'd have to take Beth first, and then she can wait while I drop off Charles. Then we can head for the bank."

"Aren't you forgetting one important detail?" Alana asked.

Ethan pursed his lips for a few moments, emulating thought, and then shook his head. "Not that I can think of."

He turned to Beth. "Can you think of any part I'm missing?"

"Maybe," she said with a smile. "I've heard there are elves in these woods."

"Elves?" The boy exclaimed, grabbing his sister's dress. "I want to see an elf, Bethy. Can I see an elf - please?"

"You already have," Alana sighed, pulling back her hair to show the boy her ears.

"Ooh," the boy said. "I thought Elves were only three feet tall?"

"Alana is a giant elf," Ethan said with a straight face. "She's almost freakishly large."

Alana gave Ethan a little slap on the arm, but smiled. "Stop teasing the boy."

"On a more serious note," Ethan said. "That just leaves one detail. Are we going to wait until dark or risk flying during the day?"

"Why would flying during the day be a problem?" Beth asked

"I think we should wait until nightfall," Alana said, and then turned to Beth. "The city guards probably wouldn't take kindly to seeing a dragon suddenly flying towards The Bank out of the darkness. It might make them nervous. Come on, let's get our stuff together, eat something, and we'll explain."

The girls looted the camp supplies for breakfast, while Ethan checked the corpses, finding only a few gold coins between them. He took them and decided to keep the warhammer as well, just in case they ran into another armored foe.

Once they sat down to eat, Ethan explained how he had come to this world and his contretemps with Lord Delmar. That in turn led to a recounting everything that had happened so far. Beth asked so many questions, that finally Ethan had to call a halt to her interrogation so he could finish eating. Once they were on the road to Alana's clearing, Beth continued her questioning.

She was easily the most curious person he had ever met.

Several times, Ethan caught a flicker of annoyance from Alana through their bond. He gave her a questioning look, but she gave no indication of what was annoying her. Ethan had a pretty good idea that it was Beth's continual questions, but he didn't find them annoying. On the contrary, she seemed to hang on his every word. And she was cute.

By the time they reached Alana's clearing, Ethan could feel that the annoyance from Alana had turned into frustration. She seemed to feel excluded, alone, and a little jealous.

"Okay," Ethan said to Beth when they arrived at the ashes of her home. "Enough questions for now. My throat is starting to hurt."

"I'm sorry Beth said. "Father always says I ask too many questions. It's just, you're a dragon! How many other chances will I get to question a dragon? But I'll rein them in."

She turned to Alana. "So, you grow trees for enchanting staffs? How does one make a tree better for enchanting?"

For the next hour, it was Ethan's turn to feel left out.

Beth peppered Alana with questions on every topic imaginable. She was especially interested in enchanting and Elven culture and it was obvious that Beth had read a lot on both subjects, but didn't have any experience with either. She was a good listener, and her questions were intelligent and to the point, assimilating and digesting the answers with ease.

It took a while before Alana tired of the never-ending questions. At which point Beth fell silent and spent the next hour pacing, deep in thought. Her brother had long since fallen asleep out of sheer boredom.

"I'm sorry I was annoyed," Alana murmured to Ethan while Beth wandered the clearing. "She's a really nice girl and I like her a lot."

"Why were you so annoyed?" he asked. "Was it just so many questions?"

"It was, uh," Alana hesitated, her cheeks gaining a pink tinge. "Oh, it's not important. Don't worry about it."

"Okay," he said slowly, not sure what was going on in her head, despite their bond. There was an awkward silence for a few minutes until Beth came back with more questions.

The rest of the day passed slowly, broken only by a meal at midday, having looted and carried off enough food from the kidnapper's camp to put together a decent lunch.

"I'm going to take a nap," Alana said midway through the afternoon, after they had cleared away the remnants of their meal. "Please don't let me sleep too long."

"Sure thing," Ethan replied. He watched Alana walk off into the forest and lay down on a patch of moss. She flopped down and her hair cascaded over her face, framing it exquisitely.

She was breathtakingly beautiful.

* * *

Alana was lying in her bed, snuggled under a thick blanket while a fire flickered in the fireplace. The fire was odd because she didn't remember her house ever having a fireplace. She felt drowsy, cozy and comfortable.

Ethan walked in from the outside, closed the door, and then slid into bed behind her. She snuggled back against him and drew his arm around her. They lay there snuggling for what seemed like an eternity of bliss. Ethan leaned over and kissed her cheek very tenderly. Alana sighed happily and snuggled even closer to him.

Everything was right with the world and she felt safe, content and loved.

"Alana," Ethan said, but his voice sounded strange - as if it was coming from a great distance.

"You're so comfortable," Alana mumbled.

"Alana, wake up," Ethan repeated, and then the whole house started to shake. She ignored the shaking for as long as she could, but then remembered that Hermair had burned her house down, so this couldn't be her house.

"Alana, it's time to get up," Ethan's voice said again.

Alana jerked awake and instinctively reached for her bow... and hit Ethan's face instead.

"Ow!" they both said at the same time.

"Sorry," she said, making a mental note that punching dragon scales was a bad idea.

"I'm fine, how's your hand?" Ethan replied.

"It'll stop hurting or fall off; either way I'm good."

"Okay, I'm about to fly Beth to that field near Gralden," Ethan said. It was getting near evening and would probably be dark within the hour. "I just need you to watch the boy while I'm gone."

"Of course," Alana said, handing her weight reduction necklace to Ethan, then turning to the blonde . "Beth, you'll want to braid your hair or it'll be a rat's nest when you arrive."

The young blonde quickly braided her hair, tied it with a thin leather strap, and put on the necklace Ethan handed her. He dropped to all fours and she climbed up awkwardly onto his back.

"I'll be back soon," Ethan said, then leapt into to the air, flapped his wings and was gone.

Alana spent the next two hours watching over Charles. He didn't get up to too much trouble, which gave her a lot of time to think. Her dream kept coming to mind. She was shocked by how much she had reveled in it. She had only known Ethan a few days, but it felt like much longer.

Was it their bond?

Alana examined his emotions. He was feeling blissful - she wasn't sure why - but thought it might be because he was flying. She briefly considered that Beth was the cause, but dismissed it. She didn't like the idea that his contentment was caused by the blonde. She liked Beth - she was curious, intelligent and rather fun to talk to - but what if Ethan liked Beth more than her?

Alana shook her head, refusing to believe she was jealous of the blond woman. Of course, Alana had no actual claim on Ethan except through their bond, which in Elven culture meant they were married. And her mother had once told her that the bond made it nigh on impossible to avoid falling deeper in love with a good person.

Ethan was definitely a good person.

But did she love him?

She honestly didn't know but it didn't matter, the practical side of her brain pointed out. Dragons live a lot longer even than elves and it would never work out. One day she would be old and he would still be young and vigorous. Plus he was a dragon, a totally different species than elves.

But different races like humans, elves, and even the orcs intermarry all the time, countered her emotional side.

But they never have children, and I want some, her logical side argued.

Aha, there are no female dragons. They use the women of other races to carry their young. So you could bear his children, her emotions disagreed.

At that point, Alana halted the argument. She was thinking about having children with a man - a dragon - whom she had known for less than a fortnight. Bond or no bond, it was too fast! Besides, she wasn't even sure he felt the same way.

She determinedly tried to put it out of her mind.

Eventually, Ethan returned to pick up the boy. He gave Alana a curious look when he landed, but Charles was so excited at being about to fly a dragon, he didn't say anything. At least, that's what she hoped as she helped to secure the boy with a leather strap around him, and watched Ethan take off again.

She lay spread-eagled on her back and looked up at the stars above. She caught herself trying to find a dragon in the constellations, and then closed her eyes and waited for Ethan to come back to her.

* * *

Alana was spread on the biggest and softest bed in the most beautiful room she had ever seen, draped in gossamer scarves that barely concealed her breasts and pussy, and left nothing to the imagination elsewhere. She tried to move, but found soft silken cords binding her arms and legs to the corners of the bed.

She was completely helpless

The door opened and Ethan walked in - no, he prowled in - with a look in his eye Alana had never seen before, a primal, hungry look that made her shudder. It was frightening, but also exciting. He stalked over to the bed and walked around it like a vulture circling its prey.

Between his legs, the scales parted and his... cock - it was a cock, she thought desperately - slipped forward and rose into view. It was at least eight inches long and still growing in length and girth, the sight transfixing the petite elf... She had never seen one before and didn't know they could be this big. Then he climbed onto the bed between her legs and his intentions could not have been clearer.

Alana shivered, but couldn't tell if it was fear or anticipation that made her skin quiver.

"Unless you forbid it, I'm going to breed you, my mate," the dragon stated. It wasn't a request, a command, or even a threat; it was a simple statement of fact.

"Please..." Alana trailed off. She wasn't sure how she wanted the sentence to end.

"Please what?" he asked as he used one of his claws to slit the sheer fabric covering her breasts and cast the scrap of cloth aside. He blew on her nipples and they responded by growing erect and almost painfully hard. His breath was warm and its flowed over her breasts sending the most exquisite sensations rushing to her extremities.

"Please... I want..." She knew exactly what she wanted, but she didn't dare say it. She was barely able to think it. He leaned forward and breathed on her neck, so close to her but still not... quite... touching.

"Tell me what you want, Alana," he repeated patiently. The heat of his breath was causing shivers to run up and down her body and making her tremble. She wanted him to touch her. Why wasn't he touching her?

"I want to..." Alana couldn't bring herself to say it.

"You want to feel me inside of you," Ethan whispered into her ear. "You want to be wrapped around me while I penetrate you to the core. Is that what you want?"