A Dragon's Tale Ch. 12

"Yeah, we'll get along just fine." Ethan smiled.

The dwarf harrumphed.

"Trust me." Ethan said. "Hailey killed the Magistrate's son just after she was technically given to me as a slave."

"He freed her, but not legally." Alana interjected.

"Yeah, so now I need to fight a trial by combat in The Arena to prevent her from being executed. I need a new head made of Elven steel for my war hammer to make sure I win and Hailey survives."

The Dwarf harrumphed again. "How do I know that's not a load of dragon shit?"

"Because I relieved myself before I came." Ethan rolled his eyes.

Alana chuckled.

Graflex stared at her for a few moments. "You have the look of an enchantress."

"I am, or was. I used to grow some of the best staves for enchanting in the Ten Kingdoms."

The dwarf narrowed his eyes. "What's the best way to ensure the mana flow is consistent along the entire length of the shaft?"

"Trick question." The wood elf replied. "Because you don't want the mana to flow evenly along the entire shaft. You want it flowing just slightly better near the top to better focus the spell."

"Why is ash better than birch for enchanting?"

"It's not; but ash is more flexible which makes for a more durable staff, even when fully enchanted."

Graflex tapped his foot on the ground and steepled his fingertips together. Why are gems the only non-organic thing that can hold an enchantment?"

"First, that's like, three trick questions." Alana sighed. "Golem stone can also be enchanted. Further, only some gems can take an enchantment and only if you properly set up a resonance field inside the gem, and trap it in the facets of a properly cut gem; emphasis on properly cut. Technically, the gem doesn't take the enchantment; the magical resonance field does, and it's merely held in place by the facets of the gemstone."

The dwarf harrumphed again and mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?" Rachel asked.

"You need this Elven steel to help Hailey?" Graflex sat down on a bench, pulled his shoe off and started scratching a couple warts on his foot.

"We do." The redheaded teen replied. "And since Magistrate Haglath is probably behind this, we could put him in his place with your help."

Graflex put his boot back on and eyed her suspiciously. "Wait. Wait. I do this and Haglath suffers?"

"Humiliations galore." Ethan said in a strange accent, which he usually only did when he was quoting from one of those strange 'movie' things from his world.

Graflex cackled, which was a strange sight on the muscle-bound, four foot tall dwarf who was built like a golem, then jumped up. "That is a noble cause. That'll be sixty-five."

Rachel fished the appropriate amount out of the Argo's money pouch -- which Ethan didn't carry because; dragon -- and paid him. Graflex took the silver and touched a few of them to his tongue, as if tasting them to see if they were genuine.

"That'll do, I've got one in the back." He harrumphed before ambling out of sight into a back room. "And you better not touch anything while I'm back here unless you're gonna pay for it!"

Ethan and Alana exchanged a glance. There was a moment's pause, then both of them stifled a laugh. Rachel rolled her eyes. The telepathic communication was getting to be annoying. Okay, notthat annoying, but a little annoying. Not because she didn't like it though. On the contrary, she found herself slipping into a bit of jealousy again.

The dwarf came back with a beautifully forged new head for his war hammer. He tossed it carelessly into Ethan's arms and flopped down on a bench.

"There you go." He grunted. "Tell Hailey to drop by when she's released."

"Will do." Ethan looked at it, then held it up for Alana to see. The wood elf took it, closed her eyes, and ran her hands over the steel's surface for nearly a minute.

"It'll work." She nodded to him. "Just barely, but there's just enough space to hold all the enchantments."

"Great!" Ethan said.

"Except." She continued. "We can't install it on the Argo because we don't have the forge or proper tools. I had one of Lord Borden's smiths install the original head."

Rachel looked around at the weapons in the shop. Now that her eyes had adjusted, she could see they were certainly of good quality. She'd need a closer inspection to be sure, but he looked like a skilled smith, despite his grumpy manner.

"How much to remove the current head on my war hammer fit this onto it before dinner tonight?" Ethan asked, apparently having the same idea.

What followed was a near epic haggling session. The dragon and the dwarf both loved gold, and they both tried every trick in the book to talk the other down. Rachel wandered away bored, found a bench that didn't look too dirty, and flopped herself down to think.

It was hard with all the noise.

She shifted in her seat, which resettled her clothes and made her left shoulder itch slightly. She reached under her shirt and scratched the itch, feeling her birthmark as she did so.

It was slightly larger than one of those "quarter" things Ethan had described when explaining money from his home. It was a grayish brown and -- now that she'd seen them up close -- she realized it slightly resembled dragon scales.

It had made her feel slightly insecure in her early teen years, so she'd spent a great deal of time searching her father's records for such a birthmark. She had heard rumors about one of the noble houses among the wood elves having such a mark; but even among that house it was very rare and only afflicted the women for some reason.

For a whole day she'd been excited about the possibility of being related to one of the great houses of the wood elves, but facts had dashed that hope. It turns out, the pointy ears of an elf would carry down to the descendants for at least ten generations, and Rachel's ears were as round as they come.

Shedefinitely wasn't related to any elves.

Still though, it seemed like an inherited trait, but there was no record of anyone in her family every having it. That made her wonder where it had come from and who she had inherited it from.

She didn't have a clue.

"As Ethan would say, penny for your thoughts?" Alana asked, breaking into her reverie.

"Okay, but I only sell them that cheap for friends and family." Rachel said with a wink as she held out a hand, palm up, as if the wood elf would pay her.

The brunette chuckled as she sat down beside her. "I'm honored."

"For what?"

"That you consider me a friend; I never really had any growing up in the forest. It was always just my parents and I. They were wonderful, but I wished I had a few sisters to keep me company. You've given me an idea what that's like."

Rachel hesitated for a moment, then gave the wood elf a hug. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She beamed as they let go, then her face turned slightly more serious. "What's wrong?"

"Is it that obvious?"

Alana raised her eyebrow.

"Fair enough." Rachel took a deep breath. "You're glowing."

"I am?"

Rachel looked at her for a moment. "Yes. Ever since this morning. I mean, right now you could outshine the bonfires on top of Illuminar's temple. In all of my nineteen summers, I've never seen a woman so happy."

Alana smiled sheepishly. "I am, but why is that bad?"

"It's not bad at all. In fact it's the opposite." She ran her hands through her flame colored hair. "I'm just a little jealous, or maybe conflicted. It's just... I don't know if it's Ethan or the baby, but you look so happy. I want that."

Alana got a mischievous smile and opened her mouth.

"No, not that." Rachel cut her off as her cheeks grew warm. "I just mean, you're so happy with Ethan and now you've got a baby on the way. I want that; the man, the baby, and most of all the happiness. But I also want..." She turned her head away to look out the window. Well, try to anyway; it was way too dirty to see much.

"You also want to be an arch mage." Alana finished.

She nodded.

"Why can't you have it all?"

Rachel frowned. "I mean, theoretically there's no reason I can't. But to become an arch mage take years and years of work and study. It might take me fifteen years or more, and by then..."

"You might be getting old for children." The wood elf finished.

Rachel nodded. "And if I try it the other way around... I just couldn't do that. Becoming an arch mage is incredibly dangerous. Even if I took every precaution possible, it's still very dangerous. Only about half the mages who get to that level even survive their first attempt, and it almost always takes more than one. I just couldn't chance leaving my kids without a mother."

"Sounds like you're caught between a rock and a hard place."

"I wasn't until this morning." She admitted. "None of the mothers I grew up around were this happy to be pregnant. Plus, none of their husbands -- or most of the suitors my father found -- made me want to get married or make a baby in the first place."

Alana got a strange glimmer in her eye. "Yeah, the making can be very fun with the right... dragon."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Yes, but I doubt you're offering to share."

Alana opened her mouth, closed it, and then got an odd look on her face. If Rachel wasn't wrong, she thought she saw a touch of pink in the wood elf's normally tanned skin. Further, she momentarily averted her eyes in what seemed to be embarrassment.

"Even if you were." Rachel continued, sparing her friend some apparent discomfort. "Ethan's a good guy, but not what I'm looking for. Plus, I've been disowned and I'm probably a wanted fugitive. That doesn't help my prospects."

"Well, there's always Raklan." Alana said with a completely deadpan expression.

Rachel blinked before chuckling and adding in a mock serious tone: "How did you know I've been nurturing a crush?"

"A woman knows." She said sagely, before her deadpan expression broke and they both laughed. They shared a moment of mirth before the wood elf continued. "I don't know what to say. If there's anything I can do to help, let me know okay?"

Rachel nodded. "I will."

Alana cocked her head to one side and stared into space for a moment, then said: "Ethan finally struck a deal. You still fun of mana and willing to lend me some?"

Rachel checked her mana. She was brim-full of regular mana, which she could donate to help the wood elf do the necessary enchanting without forming any sort of bond.

Her deep mana on the other hand...

A large portion of her deep man was still comprised of what Ethan had given her. It felt very different than the rest. It was harder and somehow more solid; denser. It was like a rock that had sunk to the bottom of a pool. She tried to move it around but -- as before -- it wouldn't budge.

It had definitely gotten smaller, but it was still nearly a quarter of her deep mana. She shrugged, happy to know it would be gone eventually. She didn't really like having a part of Ethan inside of her.

Well, okay; she didn't exactlyhate it.

Ethan was a good man, but she wasn't interested. Even if he wasn't Alana's husband, he was a dragon. She wanted a man -- someone to grow old with -- not the strong, powerful dragon that Ethan was. No, that's not what she wanted. Not quite.

But then she wondered, how far off was he?

* * *

Beth floated in the middle of the room, completely bored out of her skull. It had been like this all day and the purple tones outside the window were growing darker as the sun set.

She was so bored.

There was nothing of interest in the room. Nothing. She'd spent the entire day floating suspended between the black, light-sucking tendril and the gentle pull of Illuminar's light. She'd seen everything there was to see in the room and either already knew what it was or didn't know enough for it to make sense.

She was Sooooo bored. She was just about to try sleeping again -- for the tenth unsuccessful time -- when the door opened and someone walked it.

No, something walked in.

The shadowy figure was back.

He -- or it -- was wearing a long flowing cloak that billowed like grass in the breeze or seaweed in the current. He was vaguely human shaped, but there were several bulges and irregularities under the cloak she couldn't account for. Everything about him was black. A black so deep it was more like the absence of color or staring down a bottomless shaft than any color she'd seen.

He seemed to be the opposite of Gabriella.

Where Gabriella seemed to brighten every place she walked, he seemed to suck the light and warmth from the room. A cold, clammy sensation spread through her body and she found herself fighting the inclination to panic.

She clutched her side looking for Aharown; but despite its weight still resting on her hips, she couldn't feel it at her side.

"Hello Elizabeth Borden." The shadowy figure said in a slow, breathy voice. It almost sounded like the voice was coming from a great distance off; yet also like it was inside her head. As before, it almost sounded like a small legion of people were speaking in perfect unison; yet also like only one person.

The effect still chilled her to the bone.

"Wha... What do you want?" she managed to squeak out in a small voice.

"I want your body and your soul, Elizabeth Borden." It reached out a hand toward her.

She struggled as best she could, but the tendril trapped her in place. The black phantom's hand stop mere inches from her face. She stared into the space under its hood.

There was nothing there.

It was like staring into a bottomless pit, if the pit had a face you couldn't see. It was completely empty, yet extremely revealing. She could see nothing, yet everything. She could see neither eyes, nor nose, nor mouth; but she could see its expression. There was something evil and inconceivably ancient under that hood. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound escaped.

"You may fight Elizabeth Borden; but you will never escape." It said, the slow breathy speech sending even more chills down her spine.

"I'll... I'll never... I never give you anything." She said, though it took every ounce of her willpower to get the words out.

It laughed.

The laugh felt like falling through the ice in mid-winter into a freezing lake below. It felt like her heart and soul froze in her chest. With a single laugh, it had broken her resistance like a flash-flood breaks a child's house made of sticks.

"You will comply Elizabeth Borden." It said, yet somehow it continued to chuckle at the same time. Both pitiless words and cruel laughter poured from the same empty maw beneath its hood.

"Say you will comply Elizabeth Borden." The evil laughter seemed to bore into her soul. It felt like something was cutting off her air, but she could still breathe. She gasped for breath, realizing she was on the Astral Plane and didn't need it. For some reason though, she still desperately craved it.

Still, she shook her head.

"Comply Elizabeth Borden." It said. "Your compliance will be rewarded."

She shook her head again, and the crushing weight that she couldn't feel increased; it wasn't there, but it felt like it was killing her. She could breathe, and yet she was suffocating... even though she didn't need to breathe on the Astral Plane.

"You will comply, Elizabeth Borden" it said again as the pressure reached incredible heights. "Your compliance will be rewarded. Say you will comply."

It took every ounce of willpower she possessed, but she shook her head again. She felt like she was suffocating and welcomed the deep darkness and relief of unconsciousness.

It didn't come.

She was trapped at the edge of consciousness. Neither awake nor asleep; neither conscious nor dreaming; neither alive nor dead. She was trapped.

Still the pressure increased.

"Say you will comply Elizabeth Borden. Your compliance will be rewarded."

She couldn't take it anymore. Her entire body was screaming at her, yet she didn't have a body. Every one of her senses was shrieking that she was about to die, yet she was already dead.

"You can end this if you comply Elizabeth Borden. Will you comply?"

She would; she couldn't. She shook her head again, though far more weakly this time.

"Will you comply?" The crushing force seemed to grow impossibly stronger.

There was no way she could comply; not now. Not to this. And yet...

"Will you comply?" It said. "Your compliance will be rewarded."

She couldn't. What would Ethan think? What would he do?

"You must comply Elizabeth Borden; then it will end."

She felt like the life was being crushed out of her.

"Comply Elizabeth Borden; then it will end."

The crushing force reached an apex.

"You must comply; then it ends"

It was so hard to resist...

"Will you comply?"

She wouldn't...

Couldn't...

"Yes."

The word escaped her lips without conscious thought. No; it escaped her lipsdespite conscious thought. Instantly, the suffocating pressure and cruel laughter ceased. Light and warmth seemed to return to the room as the creature took a step back and lowered its hand.

"Well done Elizabeth Borden." It said in his slow, breathy, spectral voice. "Your compliance will always be rewarded."

She felt tears forming at the corners of her eyes. She'd heard many terrible tales of those who had struck bargains with Saidow's minions. She'd heard of the horrible prices and cruel fates they suffered. And now, she had... she'd...

"We will continue tomorrow Elizabeth Borden. Never forget; your compliance will be rewarded."

It left the room.

Beth felt her body go limp, betraying her for the second time in as many minutes. She somehow felt worse than she had at the height of her torture. How could she do that? How could she...

What had she done?

She vaguely remembered Gabriella's promise of safety, but right here... right now... with that thing nearby...

She shivered.

* * *

Alana laid her head against Ethan's shoulder and yawed as she looked out over the Argo's deck into the Arcanum dock. Night was fast approaching and they were all gathered around the fire for dinner.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm fi... f..." She yawned. "I'm fine."

*Yes you are.* He thought to her, and she blushed. She should've been used to it by now though. He had been flirting with her shamelessly all day long. Out loud when they were alone and telepathically when others were around.

"You want the rest of them chops?" Raklan asked her.

"Go ahead." She said, stifling another yawn as the massive crewman speared them unceremoniously with his knife.

She hefted Ethan's war hammer in her hands, staring at the new head as she worked up the willpower to start enchanting it again. It was slightly larger than his previous head, which was good for what he planned to use it for. However, fully enchanting it would be difficult because the Elvin steel seem to take twice as much mana to enchant as wood, while only being half as strong as a comparable enchantment on wood.

"Hey, don't kill yourself working on that." He said. "It's important, but so are you. Plus, you're living for two now."

"I am." She touched her stomach and couldn't help but smile. "I'll be fine; I just need to finish this." She hefted the war hammer.

He gave her a kind smile and gently took it from her. "I really appreciate how much you want to help, but promise me you'll take care of yourself-- of the both of you."

"I will." She said aloud, then added telepathically. *Sir.* She made no attempt to keep her interest to herself.

"Later; you need a good night's rest after how hard you worked today."

"Okay." She leaned against him again and stifled another yawn. "I suppose I could finish it in the morning. I should have enough time."