A Dragon's Tale Ch. 06

The dragon in him longed to take both Alana and Beth to bed at the same time. The dragon wanted to force them to pleasure each other and then himself, before he impregnated them both. He tried to clear his mind, but the dragon wouldn't let it go. He didn't either, but he was getting a slightly painful case of blue balls; or rather blue ball -- singular.

His dragon side relented.

Shaking his head, he got up and walked out of the captain's cabin.

It was early morning and the sun had just risen behind some clouds in the east. The deck was deserted, except for Anthiel and Rachel. Anthiel was playing an instrument up on the quarterdeck near the ship's wheel. Rachel was staring listlessly out into space at the front of the ship. At least, it looked like she was staring. Her flame-colored hair made it hard to tell from the back.

"Penny for your thoughts," Ethan said after walking up to her.

"What's a penny?"

"It's a tiny copper coin from my home," Ethan said.

"Home," Rachel repeated the word like it sounded foreign to her. "I hear they're a nice thing to have."

"They are," Ethan replied. "You didn't have one?"

"I had a place to live," Rachel said. "I was fed, clothed, and taken care of, but it never felt like home. The maids said it was different before my mother died, but I don't remember her."

"How'd she die," Ethan asked.

"I'm not sure," Rachel replied. "I know she died before my second birthday, but no one would tell me what happened. I've heard rumors that it was on my father's orders."

Ethan's jaw dropped. Not only was it shocking but the calm, matter-of-fact way she spoke about it was unnerving. "He did that?"

"I don't know, maybe? He's incredibly cruel, but he also can be very tender hearted. When I was about five, I found a rabbit hurt in the woods. He helped me bind its wounds and I convinced him to let me keep it as a pet. His name was Theodore."

"Good name,"

Rachel nodded. "I tended to that rabbit for months and my father -- the 'evil' Lord Delmar -- helped me take care of it. He was always gentle with Theodore. He never hurt him and he would even eat out of his my father's hand."

"That doesn't sound like the Lord Delmar I keep hearing about, or the one I met."

"There's more," Rachel said as a dark shadow crossed her face. "Theodore escaped one day and a guard who didn't know he was mine killed him. I cried for days, and my father put the guard in stocks for almost a week, tortured him for a couple days, then had him beheaded, drawn, and quartered as punishment."

Ethan found himself speechless.

"Yeah, I know," Rachel only seemed a little pained by the memory, but she did seem pensive.

"Was he so unpredictable all the time?" Ethan asked.

"Yes. Sometimes he was the sweetest father in the world. Sometimes he was the cruelest tyrant in the whole land. It seemed like which one he was depended on the weather."

"That's a hard way to grow up,"

"He wasn't like that with me," Rachel said. "He was always stern, but never cruel to me. Not until..." Rachel trailed off and looked away.

"Until what?" Ethan asked.

She didn't answer his question. "I'm just wondering why he was like that. It was like living with two completely different fathers; one kind, one cruel."

"You're getting at something." Ethan said.

"Maybe."

"What?"

She hesitated for several seconds before responding. "It's not important. It's not like I have a home to go back to."

"I know the feeling," He nodded. His entire life on Earth was pretty much gone. He only had two good friends and they'd run off together and stolen his business. His parents cared, but lived halfway across the country so he didn't see them often.

They stood together in silence for several minutes before she broke the silence. "What's it like having a home?"

"It's like..." Ethan trailed off trying to figure out how to describe what it felt like growing up in his parent's home. "It's like having a sanctuary. It's having a place in this crazy world where you know you'll be safe and cared for no matter what. It doesn't matter how bad things get or what you've done, it's a place you'll always be loved and accepted. Though really, it's the people that make it a home and not the place."

"Sounds nice," Rachel said, then fell silent.

"Yeah, I'd like to have one again,"

Rachel gave him a weak smile. "Alana and Beth adore you, Anthiel respects you, and you have the Argo. Maybe it doesn't feel like a home now, but it will."

"In that case, mi casa essu casa," Ethan said.

"Huh?" Rachel turned to look at him.

"It's from a language in my world," Ethan said. "Roughly translated, it means 'my house is your house'. You're welcome to make the Argo your home as long as you like, or until you find somewhere better."

Rachel's eyes got rather watery. She blinked several times and looked away. "Why would you say that? I tried to kill you and Alana. Twice."

"It wasn't you; it was the will breaker ring," Ethan replied. "I haven't known the real you very long, but you seem like a good person."

"Thank you," Rachel said. Ethan couldn't see her face, but it looked like she was surreptitiously wiping her eyes.

"I don't know what I'd do here though," Rachel said. "I can't just sit around and do nothing."

"There's one job that you'd be perfect for," he said. "I need someone to fire the cannons when we can get them made."

"What's a cannon?"

"It's a weapon that'll knock your socks off when you see how effective it is. I think your affinity for fire would be a great help in using them."

"Okay," Rachel said, though she didn't look sure of what he meant.

As he picked out a plan for her to help, Ethan couldn't help wondering where he fit into the whole equation. He was living on a borrowed ship, in another world, and -- except for two weapons and cube of gold -- he didn't own a single thing.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Rachel said after he had fallen silent.

"I'm just wondering about my place in this world," Ethan said. "I have literally no clue what I'm doing here."

"Welcome to the club,"

Ethan chuckled. "Yeah, I guess most people fall into that category."

"You help people. That's what you do."

"Huh?"

"You help people," she repeated. "You've been in our world around a month and you've already gone out of your way to help at least three people. Most people don't do that. Most people only care about themselves, not others. You're different. You do the opposite and the world needs that badly."

"Thanks, but I also put them in danger in the first place so I'm not sure it counts," Ethan replied.

"You didn't put Alana or me in danger," Rachel countered. "She was about to be eaten and the will-breaker ring was attacking me long before you arrived."

Ethan nodded.

"Maybe that's your place in this world," Rachel continued. "Maybe helping others is something you're good at. Maybe that's your calling"

"I could live with that, it doesn't exactly come with a manual though."

"Life rarely does,"

"You know, you're pretty wise," he said looking at the redhead with a newfound respect.

"Thank you. It's amazing what I've learned about myself since getting that ring off."

"It's only been a couple days," Ethan said.

"I know," she replied, but didn't elaborate.

Ethan heard the door to below decks open. He looked behind him to see Alana coming sleepily above decks. Her hair was a complete bedhead mess and she was yawing, but God she looked beautiful.

"Morning." Ethan said to her.

"Morning," Alana looked up, blushed, and didn't meet Ethan's eye as she replied.

Embarrassment was flooding over their bond, but he couldn't tell what she was embarrassed about.

"Are you okay?" Ethan asked. Her air was a mess, there were dark circles under her eyes, and she looked like she hadn't slept well -- if at all -- last night. She also looked extremely frustrated.

"Rough night," Alana said after several moments, but she still didn't meet his eye. Ethan opened his mouth to ask, but she cut him off.

"Don't ask,"

He nodded. Judging from her tone, grumpiness and all the yawning, she'd had an awful night.

* * *

Over the next week, Ethan mostly split his time between combat training with Serif and trying to learn enchanting with Alana. Neither was going very well. He was improving, but he still lost practically every match Serif was just too good and never let Ethan win.

Enchanting training was going even worse. Ethan spent hours every day trying in vain to get an enchantment to stick to a piece of leather, but it wasn't going well at all.

He had failed every time so far.

The only thing he enjoyed during this week was his daily flight. Every morning he took off and flew around the Argo. He still loved the feel of the wind on his wings and the sight of the ground below him. Despite his unusual circumstances and the looming danger, he had never been happier in his life.

Beth was a constant presence, and a welcome one at that. The idea of falling in love after you got married was foreign to Ethan, but he completely understood it happening with someone like her. Her constant bright spirits and sunny disposition made her a favorite with everyone on the crew, especially himself.

Beth and Alana were even getting along pretty well, a fact for which he was very grateful.

Also exciting thing was the prospect of making gunpowder. After letting the water sit in the first barrel for two days, he -- with begrudging help from Serif and Raklan -- poured the water in the second barrel. After two days in the second barrel, the water went into the third barrel.

Everyone else on the Argo was very confused, but Ethan knew the water was now filled with nitrates. With a little more refining, he would have enough saltpeter to make a decent amount of gunpowder. He just needed boil it down to finish it, and for that he needed a pot.

"Absolutely not," Anthiel said.

"You're sure we don't have another pot?" Ethan asked again.

"We only have two, and we use both for food," Anthiel said. "There's no way I'm putting that bat shit water in a pot for food."

"I know that, but can't we use the other one?" Ethan asked. "If you have two and we only need one..." Ethan trailed off at the look Anthiel gave him.

"And if something happens to that one?" Anthiel asked. "Do you want to just float across the sky without a way to cook food?"

"Good point," Ethan replied. "We'll have to get another pot when we get to Arcanum."

"You won't need to wait long," Anthiel said. "Your dragon eyes should be able to see it on the horizon."

Ethan looked toward the front of the ship and could indeed see something on the horizon. It took another hour for him to see it clearly though.

Arcanum was huge.

It was at least twenty times the size of Gralden, probably more. Ethan had never been good at geometry or estimating distances, but he guessed the city covered at least a couple square miles. It also looked wealthier than Gralden by a fair margin. Whereas Gralden had a defined rich and poor areas, Arcanum had many more shades of gray.

At the center of the city were large spires that looked like a cross between the Eifel Tower and the Seattle Space Needle. They weren't nearly as tall, but Ethan guessed they were ten or twelve stories at least. The spires had glass walls and large bulbous rooms at the top that made them look like upside down sprouted onions. They towered over the surrounding buildings, which were two or three stories maximum.

Near the spire buildings was a large arena that looked a lot like the Roman Coliseum. Not far away, was a massive building in the shape of a seven pointed star with a central dome. It looked like a temple or cathedral, only in the shape of the sun.

Not far from the spire buildings -- situated near the wealthiest area of town -- was a dock for airships. There were at least a dozen airships in the air, all of them larger than the Argo. The largest was almost three times the Argo's length, and looked heavily armed with large Ballistae.

"Wow," Alana said. "I've never seen anything so big. It's like it goes on forever."

"Yeah, it's impressive," he agreed. He was especially curious how they'd built all this without modern industrial equipment. Of course, the Egyptians had built the Pyramids and they didn't have magic, so he supposed it wasn't too surprising.

Anthiel skillfully brought the Argo into dock at one of the smaller airship berths. Once the ship was anchored, Serif and Raklan tied several mooring lines to bollards on the dock to keep it in place.

"So, now what?" Ethan asked once everyone gathered on deck and he had activated his disguise gem. "I know we're here to talk to some wizards, but how do we go about doing that? Is there some kind of protocol?"

"I'm pretty sure you just find a wizard and start asking," Alana said, then turned to Anthiel. "Unless you have a better idea?"

Anthiel shook her head. "Nope, I never spent much time with anyone in Arcanum unless they were in a tavern."

"So, I guess we start walking towards those spires and hope for the best then?" Ethan said.

"You go," Anthiel said. "Serif, Raklan and I will watch the ship."

"Do you mind if I come?" Rachel asked. "I would love to hang around some real wizards. My father only had a few mages at the castle."

"Is there a difference between wizards and mages?" he asked.

"Absolutely," Rachel said. "A mage is just an ordinary magic user. A wizard is also called an arch-mage. They are the mages who've learned how to tap the Ether directly for mana."

"You can do that?" Ethan asked.

"Of course," Anthiel said. "But it's really dangerous."

"Many of the mages to attempt to tap the Ether directly don't survive," Rachel explained. "They end up drawing too much and the volume of pure magic kills them."

"Wow," he said. "And of course you can come Rachel. The more the merrier."

He led Alana, Beth, and Rachel off the ship and they started walking toward the tall spires. Arcanum was just as interesting from the ground as from the air. On every street, there were little shops selling their wares, and many of them were clearly exotic or enchanted. Twice, Alana and Beth had to pull him away from little shops that sold trinkets made out of gold and silver. The dragon in him objected, but he managed to keep it under control.

After twenty minutes of walking, he felt something in the air. It felt like magic, but it had a hostile, biting edge to it and it made the scales on the back of his neck stand up. It seem to come from an alley that was oddly deserted. His sense of unease increased dramatically.

Beth stumbled slightly, then looked up with strangely unfocused eyes and said in a strangely monotone voice. "We should cut through this alley. It will be faster."

"Yeah, but I don't like the looks of it," Ethan said. "Come on, we'll go around."

"No, it will be okay." Beth said in the same monotone voice, then strode purposefully -- if a bit stiffly -- down the alley ahead of them. Ethan felt from Alana exactly what he was feeling himself; something wasn't right. He looked down the alley after her trying to decide what was making him uneasy.

*I suppose we should go after her,* he heard Alana say.

He nodded and looked at her. "You're probably right."

She looked confused. "I didn't say anything."

"You didn't?" Ethan said.

The wood elf shook her head.

"Oh, but I could've sworn..." Ethan trailed off.

"Are you coming?" Beth asked -- her voice still slightly monotone -- from halfway down the alley.

Ethan glance at Alana and Rachel, judging from their expressions, they didn't like the look of the alley either. However, they both sighed, nodded, and together the three of them started after Beth. They had almost reached her when she started shaking her head and blinking her eyes.

"I feel..." she looked around. "How'd we get here?"

That's when it clicked. The magic in the air, Beth's sudden strange tone and behavior, and now her return to normalcy after entering the alley; plus the uneasy feeling...

They'd made a terrible mistake entering the alley.

Ahead of them, nearly a dozen armed men closed off the way ahead. They turned around to see another dozen men block their escape back to the Argo. The buildings on this alley didn't have doors or windows. Glancing up, Ethan saw a dark-skinned elf with half an arm missing looking down at them from atop one of the buildings.

The men drew their weapons and started advancing toward them.

They were trapped.

TO BE CONTINUED...

***Thank you for all the comments; I do REALLY appreciate them, read every one, and they help keep me writing.

Also, since so many asked, I'm hoping to release a chapter every other month... hopefully. Also, I have clear out to chapter 12 in various stages of planning/outline/completion, with a clear idea where it's going after that. I meant what I said in my bio about finishing things. :) ***