A Dragon's Tale Ch. 06

"There, I've said my peace and I'll let it be," Damon said. "I'm going to get some rum, then circle around. You want some?"

Falkaan shook his head, and started calculating what it would cost to hire enough mercenaries to eliminate the dragon and the wood elf. He could easily afford it and the bounty would cover the price ten times over.

Damon was right, the bounty was too high.

He pulled out his spyglass and began looking at the dragon and his airship again. There was something else going on here between the dragon and Lord Delmar. He just wished he knew what it was.

* * *

Alana threw the last shovel full of guano laden earth into the last barrel. They had spent the better part of a day finding a cave with bats, then the rest of the day mooring the Argo, lowering the barrels down and filling them. Everyone who was part of the operation was sweaty and tired, herself included.

"That's it," She announced with glee. "Three barrels full of it."

"The barrels aren't the only thing that's full of it," Raklan said under his breath as he glowered at Ethan's back.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," Raklan said. He sealed the barrel, tipped it on its side, then started rolling it toward the Argo.

"Are we finally done?" Alana asked Ethan.

Ethan was leaning on his shovel catching his breath. "Not just yet. Remember, we need to fill one of those barrels brim full of water.

"Oh, that's right," she groaned. "Are you sure this is necessary?"

He nodded. "Trust me, it may seem a little strange but when I'm finished making it, you'll completely understand."

"If you say so," she sighed, and they made their way back to the Argo.

The Argo was anchored about a hundred feet above the ground, with the lower mast only forty feet off the ground. On the bottom of the Argo, a large set of trap doors were open. Coming from the hole was a long rope attached to the corners of a wood platform for loading and unloading in the field. Raklan had just finished rolling the last barrel of guano onto the wooden platform.

Ethan, Serif, Raklan and Alana all grabbed two buckets each and started walking toward a nearby river. She fully intended to jump into said river when they arrived.

"So, this is a job where you come from?" Alana asked.

"Not really," Ethan replied. "They found better gunpowders over a hundred years ago so they don't do this anymore. But I don't know how to make the better gunpowders, so here we are. A gun will do a lot to even the odds"

"And what exactly is a gun?" Alana asked

"It's like a crossbow, but it shoots really small arrows faster than the eye can see. They punch through armor like you wouldn't believe. Larger versions were mounted on ships and were used for ship-to-ship combat."

"Which is what you were planning?"

"Actually, I wanted to make some explosive heads for the ballista on the Argo first," Ethan replied. "You could punch a hole as wide as those barrels in the side of an airship with one shot."

Raklan muttered something under his breath that clearly wasn't complementary.

"Less talking, more hauling," Serif said to Raklan, who then fell silent.

They arrived at the slow moving river. Alana dropped her buckets on the shore and almost ran into the slow moving river. The water was cold and only three feet deep, but it felt heavenly. She dived into the water with her dress on and let the current carry the filth from the bat cave away. It was just deep enough that she fully submerged herself several times to get her hair some semblance of clean.

"And just what do you think you're doing!?" A high, squeaky voice said when Alana had surfaced.

She looked around to see the head of an extraordinarily beautiful woman sticking up out of the river. She had extremely pale skin and black hair that matched her very large eyes. Her face looked very young, but her eyes looked much older and they were filled with disgust.

"How dare you defile my river!" The woman said, and her voice was shaking as she did so. "I had the cleanest river for a hundred miles before you spread that filthy bat shit into my waters."

"I'm sorry," Alana said taken aback. "I didn't know there was a naiad in this river."

From behind her, Alana heard a cat call. It sounded like Raklan.

"Hi," Ethan called from the bank. "Who are you?"

"I am Nalithea, the guardian of this river," The woman said proudly, though she kept only her head above the water.

"She's a naiad," Alana explained. "They're part of the Fey."

"The filthy wood elf is right. Now get out of my river before I throw you out," Nalithea said as she rose. She seemed to rise straight out of the river, even though it was only three feet deep and she was taller than Alana. She was wearing a dress that almost looked like it was made from seaweed.

Alana stood up and started wading toward the shore. Picking a fight with a member of the Fey folk was never a good idea.

"Now wait a second, who made it your river?" Ethan asked.

"Ethan don't--" Alana started to say, but she was interrupted by an impressively large wave of water literally throwing her out of the river and onto the shore. She managed to roll through the landing, but it still hurt a little.

She glanced at Ethan and saw him trembling slightly. He flexed his fingers and his claws came out. Even more disturbing were the emotions of their bond. She had started to recognize when his dragon instincts were taking over via his emotions. He was teetering on the brink right now.

"How. Dare. You. Hurt. Alana," Ethan said very deliberately and slowly through gritted teeth.

"Like I even care about--" Nalithea stopped mid-sentence. "A wood elf named Alana outside of..."

Her voice trailed off and Alana felt panic start to set in. What if the Naiad recognized her?

"Hey, you are the--" Nalithea began, but Alana cut her off.

[Stop!] Alana shouted in the Fey language. [Don't you dare finish that sentence.]

[Yes mistress.] Nalithea said in the Fey language, and then she bowed low. [Please forgive me, I didn't recognize you.]

[You are forgiven.] Alana said. She looked at Ethan, Serif and Raklan, all of whom were staring at her in amazement. Ethan was once again fully in control of himself judging by his emotions, which were basically all curiosity.

"What was that about?" Ethan asked.

"Um..." Alana scrambled for a way to explain this that wasn't lying and wouldn't leave them with more questions. "She mistook me for someone else at first."

Ethan gave her a strange look. She hadn't lied exactly, but he didn't seem convinced by her answer. She felt slightly guilty, and knew he could feel that through their bond. She determinedly started thinking about happy things that would change her emotions to a happier state.

[I am sorry for almost exposing your identity,] Nalithea said in the Fey language. [Please forgive me. To make amends, I shall spread the word among my sisters that you prefer anonymity.]

[Thank you Nalithea.] Alana replied in the Fey tongue. [May we take some water from your river?]

[Of course mistress, I would be honored,] Nalithea said with another bow. [May I take my leave?]

Alana nodded, and Nalithea disappeared beneath the surface of the water with barely a ripple to mark her departure. The wood elf breathed a sigh of relief.

"Shall we?" Alana said as she picked up her buckets. The others didn't move; they simply stood and stared at her.

"What are we waiting for?" Alana asked after filling her buckets.

"You can speak Fae," Serif said. It was not a question.

"Yeah, my parents knew a Fae ambassador and he taught me as a favor to them," Alana replied. It was technically true, though it failed to cover the scope of the favor the Fae ambassador had owed them.

"Your parents must have been influential," Serif said. His eyes narrowed and he was looking at her as if he was sizing up an opponent.

"They were just in the right place at the right time," she didn't like bending the truth, but it was easier on her conscience if she didn't actually say anything that was untrue. As the Fae constantly proved, telling the truth with a few details missing can effectively hide the truth in plain sight.

"Come one, we're burning daylight," she said, filled her buckets, then started back toward the Argo.

She was glad they didn't ask any more questions.

Very glad.

It only took a few trips to fill one of the guano-filled barrels with water from the river. Afterward they climbed up the rope ladder and went to the lower deck to help crank up the platform the Barrels were on.

A rope went from the wooden platform, to a pulley in the ceiling of lower deck of the Argo, to a large horizontal crank. There was room for six people to walk around in a circle while pushing spokes. The net result was that a few people could easily pull up a couple tons.

Once the barrels were loaded and stowed away, Ethan leaned up against the side of the ship to catch his breath. Alana yawed, rubbed her eyes and took a few minutes to catch her wind also. By the time she was done, everyone but Ethan had gone above deck.

"Hey, I wanted to ask you about that naiad," Ethan said.

"Everyone has secrets Ethan. Sometimes, it's better that way." She said, figuring that trusting him with her secrets was a bad move if she was trying to create some space between them.

"Fair enough," Ethan replied, but didn't move.

"Was there something else?" Alana asked.

"Yeah," He replied. "I've been running at full mana for a while now. You said earlier that dragons can enchant themselves and I thought I should probably start instead of letting my mana sit unused."

"Good idea. So the process is very straightforward... in theory. Enchantments can only stick to mana, and mana can only stick to something that's channeled mana before."

"Like wood, leather, or a dragon." He offered.

"Right. So you simply saturate the item with your mana, attach your enchanting spell to the mana, and then bind them together to finish."

"That's it?"

"It's that simple... in theory; the reality is a little more complex than you might think at first glance."

"Sounds like a wood elf I know."

She chuckled in spite of herself and he smiled back. Why did he always have to be so endearing?

"Anyway, that's the basic idea," she said, ignoring his comment.

"Okay," Ethan said. "Sounds simple enough. When do we start?"

"Hold your horses, first, we need to--"

"Hello?" Beth's voice rang through the lower deck. "Ethan? Are you down here?"

"I'm over here," Ethan said.

A few moments later, Beth came into view. She was wearing a blue dress that accentuated her blue eyes. Her blond hair was done up in a simple bun, but it looked like she had spent some time getting it to look just perfect. Alana suppressed a hint of bitterness that Beth had been doing her hair while the rest of them were quite literally shoveling shit... but her staying behind had been the wood elf's idea.

She wasn't used to hard work, didn't having any appropriate clothing, and probably wouldn't have been much help. Or at least those were the excuses. The real reason was she wanted some time with Ethan without Beth around. She was painfully aware that she had literally shoveled shit to get that time.

"There you are," Beth said to Ethan. "I was wondering where you went."

"I was just asking Alana to teach me about enchanting," he said.

"Can that wait?" Beth asked. "Now that she's feeling better, Rachel is moving out of the captain's cabin and we have some time to kill..."

She trailed off, leaving Alana in no doubt as to how Beth wanted to fill that time.

"I can finish explaining later," Alana said.

He hesitated for a few moments before addressing the blond. "I'd really like to get started on the enchanting, but I'll make it worth the wait tonight."

They both had a twinkle in their eyes as he spoke. The wood elf suddenly felt rather more jealous of the blue-eyed beauty than she had mere seconds ago. Not that she begrudged her time with her husband -- she didn't -- but she would've done almost anything to be in Beth's place that night.

"I can't wait," Beth said and then wandered towards the stairs to the weather deck.

"What?" Ethan asked her as Beth walked away.

"I didn't say anything," Alana replied.

"No, but you sighed."

"I did?"

He nodded.

She blushed. "I must've been out of breath; that was a lot of crap to haul."

He looked at her with his piercing, cat-like eyes for several seconds before raising an eyebrow; or what would've been an eyebrow on an elf.

"What do you want me to say?" she asked trying to keep a scowl off her face as her annoyance grew. "That I'm jealous of Beth? Okay, fine. I'm jealous of Beth. Are you happy now?"

"Anything I can do to help?"

His concern was as much visible in his eyes and felt through their bond. She felt her annoyance evaporate at his sincere concern. Why did he always have to care so much? It would be so much easier if he was a total jerk.

"I'm doing okay Ethan, really," she said. "I won't pretend I'm the happiest I've ever been, but I'll be okay."

"Are you sure?" he took a step closer.

She nodded, and unconsciously took a step towards him too. He was so close, and his presence was a soothing balm on her soul as her envy of Beth grew. Her mind drifted back to the dreams she'd had involving him, especially the erotic dreams that had pleasantly surprised her over the last couple weeks. She couldn't choose what she dreamed about, but she didn't complain about the direction they had taken.

He gave her a slight smile. "If there's anything I can do to help -- anything at all -- promise me you'll let me know."

"I will."

He nodded and turned to leave as she thought *marry me* at his back, because that's what she really wanted.

"What?" He stopped mid-step and turned back to look on her, surprise written all over his face.

"I didn't say anything."

"Oh, I thought I heard..." he opened his mouth, closed it, and then cocked his head to one side. "You sure you didn't say anything, possibly about marriage?"

"No," she said a little too quickly.

"I thought... never mind," he said, but the burning curiosity coming over their bond was hard to ignore. It was her turn to raise an eyebrow. He was so close, she could feel the breath from his nostrils as he exhaled. After several seconds he finally spoke.

"I thought you said 'marry me'."

There was an awkward moment of silence, then at the same moment they both realized just how close they actually were.

There was a moment -- but only a moment -- a brief, infinitesimally short second where there was no embarrassment. For that instant, it felt completely natural for her to be close to him; in his personal space. She felt close to him, and her heart felt like the sun was shining and she was perfectly content.

Then the moment ended.

They bother realized they were so close and they quickly stepped backwards away from each other.

"So, you were asking about enchanting," she said to fill the awkward silence.

"Yeah, you said I needed to saturate the item I'm enchanting with magic and attach the enchantment to that."

"Exactly. There's one more thing about enchanting you should know though."

"What's that?" Ethan was looking her in the eye again, though he was still shuffling his feet around a little.

"The more saturated an item is, the more powerful an enchantment it can take. On most things you have only get one shot and have to redo everything if you want to make the enchantment stronger. However dragons are different. Dragons can build up the enchantment's strength over time."

"That sounds like a great thing."

"It is, especially since you're a dragon and could live for a few hundred years."

"A few hundred years?" his jaw dropped

"You didn't know that?"

"I figured dragons were long lived, but hundreds of years?" Ethan let out a low whistle. "But what about Beth? She's only human and if I'll live a few hundred years..."

"Yes, I don't envy you for that."

"What about elves?" Ethan asked.

"We're very long lived. Not quite as long as dragons, but still."

"That's why you said I should come find you in a couple decades after Beth..."

"Once I've figured out how to block this bond I'm leaving the Argo. The world is a big place, and we might never see each other again after I leave."

Ethan nodded, while Alana held back her tears. The idea of never seeing Ethan again left a gaping hole in her heart. Apparently, her feelings leaked over their bond.

"I feel the same way," he said.

"Stupid bond."

"Agreed, but still..." He frowned; it was amazing how human a dragon could look with the right expression on his face.

"Still what?"

"I just can't shake the feeling that -- though it seems impossible -- I feel like you'll be around a long time." He smiled at that thought.

"I know what you mean," and she did. Somewhere deep in her spirit -- despite the forces pushing them apart -- she felt exactly the same. It defied all logic and reason, but she had the feeling that they would be together for a long time. She didn't want to dwell on that hope in case it was false, but still...

"I should probably teach you about enchanting before I leave," she finally said to get out of her head.

"Yeah, but let's go to the main deck. I think I need some air."

She nodded.

* * *

Beth found herself drumming her fingers on the railing of the Argo. She was on the quarterdeck and kept glancing at Ethan and Alana. They had spent the last couple hours talking about enchanting. She found it interesting for a while, but once they got past the theory and down to the actual practicing, Beth lost interest quickly and wandered away.

She found herself on the quarterdeck listening to Anthiel play some wind instrument. She listened for a while whilst she brooded

"Copper for your thoughts?" Anthiel said.

Beth turned to look at Anthiel. If Beth was honest, she was a little jealous of her beauty. Anthiel's long silver hair framed her face and features perfectly. Her skin was so fair and flawless that Beth would've killed to have skin like that. Not literally of course, but she was one of the most beautiful women Beth had ever seen.

She turned back to watch Ethan and Alana. For the last hour, he had been trying to enchant a small scrap of leather. It didn't seem to be going well. Regardless, the wood elf was a very attentive and patient teacher.

Beth sighed. "He loves her you know."

"I know," Anthiel replied.

"Why doesn't he love me?" Beth wondered idly and Anthiel laughed. Even her laugh sounded like an orchestra perfectly in tune.

"What so funny?" Beth asked, and she could feel her temper rising.

"Silly girl, of course he loves you," Anthiel said.

"He doesn't act like it," Beth murmured under her breath.

"And that's the problem right there," Anthiel said. "You don't recognize real love when you see it. If you did, you wouldn't be so worried about him."

"Fine, what's real love then?"

"What do you think it is?"

"I don't know," Beth replied. "It's that feeling you get when you're attracted to someone and always want to be around them."

"If that's the case, can a parent love their child?" Anthiel countered.

Beth opened her mouth to respond, but then closed it again. "I guess that's a different kind of love?"

"Okay, so one part of love is a feeling as you pointed out. What about the rest?"

"I have no idea," she wasn't sure what Anthiel was getting at.

"That's because you're young," Anthiel said. "I'm probably five times your age and can tell you this with certainty: emotions come and go. They strengthen and fade depending on which way the wind blows. Emotions are a truly terrible foundation for a relationship. They may help the relationship, but they aren't a good foundation."