A Dragon's Tale Ch. 09

Alana sighed, then nodded. "Of course we're serious. We take care of our friends."

Taloni looked dumbstruck. Her mouth fell open and she gaped at them. She looked at him, then her, then back at him. Her mouth moved soundlessly, as though she wanted to speak she just couldn't get the words out. Then she looked up.

"Is that your airship?" She asked.

"Pretty much," Ethan replied. Though technically it belong to Beth's father, and he wasn't sure how Lord Borden would react when he found out his daughter was dead.

"Can I go on it?" Taloni asked.

"Absolutely," Ethan replied.

Taloni looked like a kid on Christmas morning.

* * *

Rachel couldn't help but smile as she watch Taloni practically prance around the Argo. Her enthusiasm was palpable, and her knowledge of airships quite impressive considering she'd never been on one before. She knew the name and function of every rope, sail and control on the entire ship.

"How'd she learn so much about airships?" Rachel asked Ethan after she had welcomed him back.

"She works with a bunch of miners, and I think some of them used to work on airships." He replied. "It's pretty impressive what she knows."

Rachel nodded. "That might be a very useful skill soon."

"Why?"

"I've had almost a week to consider the implications of Beth's death." Rachel replied. "I'm pretty sure Lord Borden will want his airship back."

"Yeah, I can see that." Ethan looked around the ship and his eyes settled on Alana. "I just hope that's all he wants."

"I don't think he'll want revenge if that's what you're thinking." Rachel said. "But I wouldn't consider him an ally anymore."

Ethan hung his head. "It's hard to blame him."

Rachel grimaced. He needed to be snapped out of this and she didn't think Alana was the one to do it. Alana was too good; she couldn't really understand Ethan's feelings about this. Her on the other hand...

"Ethan," Rachel said after taking a deep breath. "Do you want it straight or sugar coated?"

"Straight," he replied, without looking at her.

Rachel took another deep breath before speaking. "You losing control to your dragon instincts probably caused Beth's death. But that doesn't mean you need to blame yourself. No one else does."

"I don't think Lord Borden would see it that way." He seemed somehow smaller - like he was trying to fade into the woodwork.

"It doesn't matter how Lord Borden sees it," Rachel replied. "You made a mistake Ethan; mistakes are part of life. Everyone makes them. What matters is what you do afterward."

"Most people don't get their wife killed,"

"Ethan, I kidnapped your wife, plus tried to kill you and Alana several times," Rachel said to finished laying her verbal trap. "Do you blame me for that?"

"Of course not," Ethan replied. "It was because of the will-breaker ring. You didn't want to do any of those things."

"Did you want to kill Beth?"

"Of course not. I wanted to save her, I just couldn't."

"So you're saying that a magical influence - your dragon instincts - made you do something you didn't want to do," Rachel said. "In fact, you wanted to do the opposite but couldn't because of a magical influence. Does that sound about right?"

"Yeah, I-" he stopped, and finally looked her in the eye. "You're a wise woman you know that?"

"Illuminar's Book of Light tells us to be shrewd as snakes and pure as doves," Rachel replied. "I never put much stock in it, but there's some good stuff in there."

He nodded.

"Feel better?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, I do," he replied, and he looked like it. "It just feels like I cause an awful lot of harm."

"You rescued Alana on your first day here," Rachel replied without hesitation. "She'd be dragon food if you hadn't intervened."

"And then destroyed her home and livelihood," he countered. "Kind of evens things up a bit."

"You freed Hailey and me. I was about to spend my entire life as a slave to someone else's will and a blind man could see Hailey's owner was abusive."

"True, she doesn't seem that happy though." He glanced over to where Hailey was pacing; every few minutes she would throw a murderous glance in the direction of Arcanum.

"You noticed that too huh," Rachel said. "She's seems happy to be free, but she's clearly not happy at all."

"She tries to hide it though," he observed.

She nodded. "Most people do."

They stood there leaning up against the railing of the Argo for several minutes in silence. It's wasn't exactly an uncomfortable silence, but neither was it comfortable either.

"Doing the right thing occasionally backfires," Rachel finally said. "Does that mean you should stop trying?"

Ethan shook his head. "It doesn't make it easier when it does backfire though."

"No, it doesn't," Rachel agreed. "Life is hard."

"And then you die,"

"That sounds kind of bleak," Rachel replied. "Is that really how you feel about life?"

"I don't know," Ethan's gaze lingered on where Alana was talking with Taloni and a smile crept onto his face. "Sometimes... sometimes it's not bad at all."

"Speaking of, I hear you're bonded to two women; again,"

Ethan groaned, "Don't remind me. It was bad enough the first time, I don't want to put Alana through that again."

"You bonded to three women in less than two months," Rachel observed. "That must be some kind of a record."

"You know what the sad thing is?" Ethan said. "I know dozens of men back home who would jump at the chance to be married - or bonded - to a bunch of women."

"And that doesn't appeal to you?" Rachel raised her eyebrow.

"Of course it appeals to certain parts of me," Ethan replied. "But overall, not really. I always wanted to get married, but I was thinking more a 'one woman for life' kind of deal. I could barely handle my fiancé and myself, how in the world could I take care of another woman?"

Rachel nodded and suppressed a smile. Ethan was truly a unique man. She had known many men who would jump at the chance to bed multiple women; nearly every man she'd met her whole life in fact.

"So you think it would be too hard?" Rachel asked for clarification.

"No- well that too," Ethan replied, then ran his hand over his head and onto his horns. It looked like a human running their hand through their hair. "I'm not sure I can take care of more than one woman. I mean, I want to give all of myself to one person, not split my attention between them. That's just not fair to them."

"You are a unique man Ethan,"

"I'm just trying to do the best thing for them."

"That's precisely what makes you unique," Rachel repeated. "You are more concerned with the well-being of the women in your care than how many you can take to bed. I... I can't even explain how rare that is."

Despite herself, Rachel felt a slight flutter in her heart.

She took a deep breath and shut that part of herself down instantly. There was zero sense nurturing those thoughts, and even less sense in allowing them to develop into feelings. Yes he was the best man she had ever met, and he cared deeply about his friends, and he had a certain animal magnetism; but his heart clearly lay elsewhere. She had no bond with him, and no interest in joining a harem.

She put it out of her mind.

"So what are you going to do?" she finally asked.

"Taloni made a pretty compelling case that bonding is just as intimate and binding as marriage vows. Maybe if I would've made an honest woman out of Alana, Beth would still be alive right now."

Rachel cocked her head to one side. "You think Alana is dishonest?"

"Oh, sorry," Ethan said. "It's slang where I come from. It means to marry someone."

"Your world seems like an interesting place."

"Yeah, something like that."

"I guess congratulations are in order then," Rachel said with a grin.

"Maybe," he grimaced. "I'm just not sure what to do."

Rachel nodded and looked over the side of the Argo to the small stream below. About a hundred yards downstream, it split into two smaller streams. Looking at them, Rachel was reminded about something her father always used to say.

"When two roads diverge - and neither is appealing - forge your own path," She recited.

"Huh?"

"It's something my father used to say," Rachel explained. "Often times in life we are presented with choice to do one thing or another, yet there's a third or fourth option hidden somewhere. My father always used to say there's a way out of every situation; you just have to work hard enough to find it."

"Despite the fact that he's dead set on killing me, he sounds like a wise man... Like his daughter"

Rachel blushed slightly before chuckling at the irony. "Thank you, and he was wise. I just wonder..."

"Wonder what?" Ethan asked.

"What happened?" Rachel said, and she started subconsciously feeling the finger her will-breaker ring had ridden on. "I told you before it was like growing with two completely different fathers who shared the same body.

"You have a theory?"

"Maybe... I don't know," Rachel glanced over at the quarterdeck. "We should probably get Taloni back to her mine and see about securing her release. Slave owners tend to get upset when slaves go missing."

Ethan looked at her curiously, but thankfully didn't ask about her theory. It seemed so farfetched; impossible even. But it was the only explanation she could think of. She shook her head and put it out of her mind.

Right now, they had a Fey to free.

* * *

Ethan felt his jaw drop. "You can't be serious?"

He could feel the shock from Alana through their bond and was positive it was mirrored on Rachel's face as well.

Thaltien crossed his arms and glanced at Taloni. "That little Fey saves me a lot of coin by keeping my miners patched up. With her gone, I'd need to hire a healer from Arcanum and they don't come cheap. With that damn dragon gone, I'll stop losing men and gold in transport, which will more than make up the difference."

"But it's suicide," Ethan countered.

"That's your problem," Thaltien shrugged. "I like Taloni well enough and know she'd probably give her left wing to live on an airship, that's the only reason I'm even considering selling her."

Ethan bristled at the casual way Thaltien talked about selling Taloni. He had the strangest urge to bite the man's head off - literally - for treating his mate that way.

Wait, his mate?

Where did that come from?

He glanced around the mining camp to clear his mind. The camp was a series of flimsy shacks and large tents clustered around a single large, well-constructed building. The overall appearance reminded Ethan of a shanty town, only not as dilapidated or dirty. On the outskirts, a large windmill was spinning gently in the breeze.

Several horses were tied to posts near the large building, which was guarded by men in armor. Beyond the large building was the mine entrance. It looked like it had started as a natural cave of some kind. It was large, nearly big enough for Ethan to stretch a wing across the entrance.

A hundred yards away from the camp, the Argo was floating with its lower mast just above the treetops.

"That's my offer; take it or leave it," Thaltien said. "Either way, I have work to do," With that, he turned and walked back into the large building.

Ethan turned around to look at Alana, Taloni, and Rachel. "Thoughts?"

Taloni looked crestfallen. "It's okay, thank you for trying," The corners of her eyes looked watery and she was blinking a lot.

"We haven't tried anything yet," Ethan said.

"But you can't," Taloni said. "That dragon has already beaten Ethan once and left him for dead."

"He got the drop on me and I was alone," Ethan said. "Maybe we could beat him if we attacked together and had the element of surprise."

Rachel grimaced, "I want to help, but let's not be too optimistic. From what I hear, he's twice your size."

"The bigger they are..." Ethan said. Everyone looked at him blankly so he finished it "The harder they fall; it's a saying form my world. Come on, there must be a way to kill a dragon that's twice my size. I know he beat me before, but there must be a way."

"Maybe..." Rachel said, but didn't sound very sure.

"It's okay, really," Taloni said. She was trying to hide it, but she was very far from okay. "I appreciate you wanting to help, but there's no sense in you getting killed for me."

"Except I won't get killed," Ethan replied, then turned to Alana. "You haven't said much; time to weigh in."

Alana looked deep in thought and kept glancing between Taloni and Ethan. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again.

*What are you thinking?* Ethan asked telepathically.

*Taloni is a great girl and we'd be lucky to have her on the Argo,* she said.

*But?*

*I don't see how we can kill a dragon twice your size,* Alana replied. *I don't want you to die trying,* She looked around at their small group. *I don't want anyone to die trying.*

*Me either,* Ethan frowned, then looked at Taloni. She had done so much for him. She had saved his life, healed his wounds, and she had barely known him at the time. He had promised to help free her, and he just couldn't bear the thought of disappointing her.

His choice seemed to be between certain death and crushing Taloni's dream of being free. He couldn't do that to her; not after everything she'd done for him. On the other hand, he couldn't knowingly lead the crew of the Argo to their deaths either.

It seemed hopeless until Ethan remembered something.

Something that he and the crew of the Argo had literally shoveled shit to get. Something that could make all the difference in the world. Something that was nearly complete on the Argo right now.

Something they could use to fight:

Something they could use to win:

Gunpowder.

TO BE CONTINUED...