A Dragon's Tale Ch. 14

Alana breathed a sigh of relief.

She would be okay.

As she looked at the place the wound had been, she couldn't help but notice the curve of Rachel's hip, which had been exposed when the wood elf had cut away the fabric around the wound. She just stared at it for a moment before realizing she was staring.

Her hip was beautiful.

Never in her life had Alana found a part of another woman's body to be attractive. Of course she wasn't blind and noticed when a woman wasattractive, but never before had never before beenattracted.

Except this morning...

Her cheeks got very warm as she thought about how Rachel had kissed her in the dream and how much she loved how it felt. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. She was married to Ethan now; she needed to lock up these feelings. She was very grateful that she'd changed her mental defenses that morning so these feelings wouldn't leak to Ethan over their bond.

"Hey, she'll be fine." He said wrapping his arms around her to give her a comforting hub.

"I know." She replied, realizing he took her response as concern. "We should probably get her below decks to her hammock so she can sleep. Could you carry her?"

"Yeah." He nodded, then reached down, slipped his arms under her knees and back, and picked her up.

She wiggled in her sleep as he picked her up, but then mumbled "Hmm, Ethan" as her head settled against his chest. Moments later, she completely relaxed in his arms.

The flame-haired teen looked peaceful being carried by him, as if she was in the most comfortable place in the world.

Alana couldn't help but think they looked wonderful together. Her strong man carrying another beautiful woman just felt so right to her. She gave up trying to understand why and just enjoyed a feeling of contentment as her husband carried another beautiful woman in his arms.

Despite herself, she felt a tiny smile creep onto her face.

She followed her husband as he carried Rachel below decks. They walked past Serif and Raklan's hammocks to the blanket Anthiel had hung to give the ladies some privacy.

"Which one is hers?" he asked quietly after Alana had pulled it back for him.

"That one." She said while pointing to the hammock closest to the bow of the ship.

He walked over to it, then looked at Rachel and frowned. "Her clothes are wet, which definitely won't make for good sleeping. Do you think you could get her changed into something else?"

"Me?"

He nodded and smirked. "Well, it's not like she'd be comfortable with me changing her clothes."

Alana bit her lip and tried to think about it objectively.

It wasn't easy.

On the one hand, he was entirely right and she probably should be changed out of her wet clothes before sleeping. She was the obvious choice because neither Anthiel nor Hailey were particularly close to the redhead while she was.

On the other hand, the last thing Alana wanted right now was to see Rachel naked. She was entirely sure her body would respond - it was starting to already just at the thought - and she wanted to keep those thoughts as far away as possible. She was especially grateful that she'd thought to alter her mental defenses this morning so these emotions weren't leaking to Ethan over her bond.

"Is that problem?" Ethan asked, clearly confused while she was giving it so much thought.

"Well, I'd probably wake her up." She said thinking fast.

"Good point." He looked at the beautiful teen in his arms. "The pants don't look too wet, but the shirt is ruined with all the blood and that large tear. Maybe you could just cut the wet part of the shirt out?"

She nodded.

He set her down in the hammock. Her hair fell onto her face and Ethan gently brushed it off. There was nothing romantic in the gesture; he was just trying to make her comfortable. Still, he was quite tender with her.

Alana felt herself smile.

He was so kind and tender with her best friend. For some reason - and she didn't know why - but it did her heart good to see him interacting with Rachel that way. In the back of her mind, she secretly hoped there was a little mutual attraction. Her behavior toward him while she was asleep and his behavior just now gave her hope.

He was a good man and deserved a wonderful woman like Rachel. She likewise deserved a great man like him.

"I'll be over here." Ethan said as he stepped on the other side of the curtain to give them some privacy.

Alana pulled Serif's razor out of her pocket, making a mental note to give it back to him later. She opened it and carefully sliced the wettest parts of the shirt away, dropping them in a nearby bucket.

She glanced at her handiwork and tried very hard not to stare at the redhead's toned stomach. The wetness hadn't reached up to her breasts, and so they were still covered.

She tried not to be too disappointed about that.

That job done, the wood elf looked at her pants. They weren't nearly as wet, being a soft wool material which repelled the water quite well. She decided to leave them on. Not only for the difficulty of getting them off, but also because she would probably wake the redhead if she tried.

Also, she wasn't sure she would be able to resist the temptation to peek.

She found a blanket and draped it over her friend. As she stood there looking, she was struck by just how incredible Rachel was. She was kind and tender-hearted, yet an absolute beast in combat with her magic. She was not only physically beautiful, but she also had a beautiful spirit too.

On an impulse, Alana leaned over, gave Rachel a tender kiss on the cheek, and whispered softly. "Sleep well my friend."

Feeling rather embarrassed at her boldness, she turned and ducked through the curtain separating the girl's section from the rest of the lower deck. Ethan was leaning against the wall, looking at the curtain.

"She saved our lives and probably the whole ship." Ethan said as he looked toward where Rachel was sleeping.

"Yeah, she's pretty amazing." Alana agreed. "What hurt her though?"

"Let's go look."

They returned to the weather deck and found the bit of gnarled metal that the elf had pulled from Rachel.

"It's part of the grenade body." Ethan said after looking at it for a few moments.

On closer inspection, she recognized it too. It appeared to be nearly half of the grenade, but it was all warped and twisted.

"Hmm, I was worried about shrapnel, but this is..." He shook his head. "I thought making the casing thin would help, but we can't use the grenades, not if they're going to do this."

"What if we made the grenades from something else? Something that wouldn't do this?" Alana asked.

"I don't think there is anything else." He replied. "Certainly nothing as strong as steel that could hold the pressure long enough to get a good explosion, and then vaporize afterward."

She smiled broadly. "Wood. We could make them from enchanted wood."

He looked at her like she was crazy.

"I'm serious. I can enchant it to be incredibly strong; stronger than steel. And then make an enchantment to pull heat from nearby that will trigger when it's broken. It looked like that explosion was incredibly hot, so the wooden body should turn to ash within a few feet."

"But if you can make wood that strong, why don't they make armor out of it?" he asked.

"Because the enchantment I would use is different from most strengthening enchantments. It does drastically increase the strength, but it also makes the enchanted material somewhat brittle. Any armor enchanted that way would shatter like glass with a single strong hit from something pointy."

"Wait, so this enchantment not only makes things super strong, but super hard too?"

She nodded.

A massive smile appeared on his face. "You mean, we get superheated disintegrating shrapnel that's only effective out to a few feet, then completely disappears? And this shrapnel will be stronger than steel and hard like glass?"

She cocked her head to one side. "What's shrapnel?"

He explained.

"That's horrible." She shuddered. "Should we even use weapons like that?"

"Consider who we're fighting." He pointed out. "Lord Delmar, his seemingly infinite army and at least one dragon; maybe two now including Havorleth. We need powerful weapons if we're going to win. These wooden grenades are powerful weapon that won't put any of us at risk, which will prevent what just happened to Rachel from happening again."

Alana bit her lip. It had been horrible to see her friend hurt and they did need powerful weapons. If she could make such a weapon which wouldn't pose a danger to her friends...

"Are you sure?" She asked looking at the gnarled piece of metal. "Using weapons like that seems kind of... I don't know, barbaric?"

"War is often barbaric by nature." He replied. "I'm willing to use whatever ethical weapons at my disposal to win, because if I lose, everyone on this ship will probably die." He looked at her, then glanced at her womb too. "I can't let that happen."

She put her hands protectively around her belly, knowing that he was right but hating it all the same. "I wish it didn't have to be this way."

"Me too." He nodded fervently. "I'd rather settle in a nice village somewhere to raise our kids."

"Kids?" She felt a smile creeping onto her face. "As in plural?"

"Absolutely, unless you wanted to stop at only one."

A sly smile spread across her face. "Not on your life."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him tenderly on the lips. The bit of gnarled metal fell from his hand as he wrapped his arms around her.

When their kiss broke, she stayed close. "You can put as many of your children inside of me as you like; I'll happily bear as many as you want."

He stroked her face tenderly, then said firmly. "Our children. Yes they're mine, but they're also yours."

She frowned. "I've been doing that lately, haven't I?"

"Referring to our baby as if it's only mine?" He said. "Yes you have."

"That's so strange. I'd die to keep her safe and can't wait to be her mother and hold her in my arms."

The noise Ethan made in response was a mix between and cat purring and an aroused growl. "I can't wait to see that."

She nodded. "Yeah."

Ethan yawed, then glanced at the captain's cabin. "I'm beat, we should go to bed."

"Fine by me." She gave him a sly grin and subtly altered her body language to accentuate her figure.

"I meant to sleep; we can do the other thing tomorrow."

She stuck out her lower lip in a mock pout, but nodded. "Okay."

They went into the captain's cabin. She slipped out of her dress, joined him in bed, and they snuggled together. He put his arms around her and they lay like that for a few minutes.

"What about Taloni?" Alana asked on the edge of sleep.

"Hmm, what about her?" He replied, similarly near sleep.

"Do you want to see her holding your baby?"

He made an appreciative grunt. Strangely, she found she wasn't too concerned by that. It was fine with her. If he wanted to impregnate his other wife, she didn't mind. Besides, the Fey teen would look really good holding a baby.

Of that she was sure.

Just before sleep took her, her mind drifted to Rachel and the kiss they'd shared in her dream that morning. The memory faded slowly into dream as she imagined kissing her again, and what the redhead would look like carrying one of Ethan's children.

* * *

Despite her best efforts to remain asleep, Rachel felt the dream world fading and consciousness returning. A quick check told her that someone had finished healing her wound after she had passed out. She guessed it was Alana, who was an incredible person and talented enchantress, but wasn't as good with spells. The healing was reasonably well done, but with a little work it could be nigh unto perfect.

A few minutes of concentrating and a little mana put the wound perfectly right; just good as new.

That done, she settled back into her hammock. The moment she moved, she realized the bottom half of her shirt was missing. She assumed some had cut it away because it was wet, and again assumed it was Alana.

She smiled

Her friend was so thoughtful.

She closed her eyes, but realized she was far too awake to get back to sleep. She rolled out of the hammock, got dressed in some proper clothes and wandered up to the weather deck. Judging by the stars, it was about two hours before daybreak.

She leaned against the railing in the peace and calm, feeling the cool night breeze and fresh air caress her face. Her hair moved gently in the wind and she closed her eyes to savor the moment. Anthiel was playing a slow, relaxing tune on some sort of small pipe.

It was so peaceful.

She looked down at the black mark on her finger where the will breaker ring had been. She thought about the fact that her own father had given it to her; his own daughter. He had been so kind sometimes, yet so cruel at other times. So gentle with her, yet so harsh with everyone else.

She looked at the black spot were the ring had been, wondering.

She let her thoughts wander until she heard the door to the captain's cabin open. Turning her head, she saw Alana wander out sleepily, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

"Why are you awake so early?" The redhead asked with a smile.

* * *

Alana was sure she was dreaming.

She was in a small cabin that looked like a strange mix of the home she'd grown up in and the captain's cabin on the Argo. She was sitting in a rocking chair similar to the one that her adoptive mother had always sat in. She was rocking gently back and forth, singing a soft lullaby to the baby that was nursing at her breast. She could feel the baby's gentle suction and the sensation of milk leaving her breast.

There was something incredibly satisfying about it as she looked into her infant's face. The baby was alternately closing her eyes and looking into Alana's own. The look of contentment on the baby's face made the wood elf's heart soar.

It felt amazing.

Wonderful.

Sitting there nursing her daughter, she could honestly say she'd never felt so happy or fulfilled in her entire life. Maybe her wedding night with Ethan, but that was so different she didn't think she could compare them.

"Your daughter is so beautiful."

Alana turned her head to see another woman sitting across from her. For some reason, she wasn't the slightest bit embarrassed that her breast was fully exposed in front of someone she'd never met.

The woman had a heart-shaped face that was a vision of perfect femininity. Her face had the smoothness of a girl in her teens, but her eyes had the wisdom of someone incredibly ancient. Her hair was golden and so pale it was almost white, but that might've just been the sunlight streaming through the window behind her.

"Who are you?" The wood elf asked, surprised that she was so at ease around this perfect stranger.

"My name is Gabriella." The luminous woman replied with a smile. Somehow, her smile put Alana at ease and made her feel relaxed and content.

"My name is Alana."

"Yes, Alana Ejder, also called dragon-bride. I met your husband once."

"Oh?"

The other woman nodded. "Just once, but I've spent some time with one of your fellow wives."

"Who?"

"Beth. She really is a lovely girl, just like you are."

For the first time, Alana felt slightly sad. "She died though, when did you meet her?"

Gabriella smiled again. "The two of you are going to get along famously. In the future."

"Oh." Alana replied because she couldn't think of what else to say.

She felt her infant daughter finish draining her left breast, and then start fussing because she was still hungry. The wood elf slipped the shoulder off her right side, exposing her other breast. They she moving the baby to the other side so her daughter could finish her meal. The infant latched on to the nipple, and there was the briefest bit of pain before her other breast began to let down its milk to the hungry baby.

Only afterward did it occur to Alana that she'd just bared her breast to this complete stranger, and didn't feel the least bit uncomfortable about it. She looked at Gabriella confused.

"I'm glad you're so comfortable with me." The other woman said. "But unfortunately I'm not here to talk, though that would be lovely."

"Oh?"

"I have a message, something to strengthen you for the dark days ahead."

The smile on Alana's face faltered. "Oh?"

"Yes." Gabriella replied. "I have a promise from my Lord: you will have this." She indicated the room around her and then the baby she was nursing. "You'll hold the baby that's growing in your womb and nurse her just like this. At times it will seem impossible for either of you to survive, but you will. Remember that. No matter what happens, hold onto this dream; it will keep you going when the world around you appears to be crumbling under your feet... which it will. There are dark days ahead, but you'll get through them."

"Dark days?"

"But you'll get through them; both of you." Gabriella nodded her head toward the baby nursing at her breast.

Alana looked down. Her daughter was just finishing and appeared to be fighting sleep. She had this sleepy-contented look on her face that just made the wood elf's heart melt.

"And we'll both be okay?" She asked again as she just stared at the wondrous sight of her baby. She was absolutely perfect.

"You will both be okay." The other woman said.

Alana stared at her daughter for several seconds before speaking again. "And what about Eth-" She stopped mid-sentence as she realized she was alone in the cabin...

And then she felt herself begin to wake up.

"No, no not yet." She said as she looked at her baby, now asleep in her arms. She stared at her for as long as she could, until the dream faded and she was left looking at the inside of her eyelids.

She was awake.

She could feel Ethan's breathing and his arm draped over her protectively as he slept. She laid there unmoving, going over every detail of the dream repeatedly to etch it into her memory. Every tiny detail, especially the look on her daughter's face as she had slept in her arms.

There was nothing like it.

Nothing she'd ever experienced compared to the joy of holding her own baby in her arms. The feeling was indescribably wonderful. The only thing that could've possibly made it better was having Ethan there while she nursed. She laid in bed for quite a while savoring the memory.

Finally, she realized she wasn't going to get back to sleep and didn't want to stay in bed; she was too restless. She was incredibly excited for nine months in the future when she could replay her dream for real.

She carefully extricated herself from Ethan's arms, slipped on her dress, and headed out onto the weather deck, yawning and rubbing her eyes to banish the last vestiges of sleep from her brain.

"Why are you up so early?" Rachel asked with a smile. She was leaning on the railing and looked pensive.

"I had a dream and couldn't get back to sleep after I woke up."

"Oh?"

Alana hesitated for a moment, then joined Rachel at the railing and recounted the dream, including Gabriella telling her that dark days were ahead. Rachel listened without interrupting and was silent for several moments afterward.

"Hmm." Rachel mused after a while.

"What?"

"It sounds like the same woman who visited Ethan, and I'm pretty sure she was an angel."

"Oh, it does indeed." Alana stared out into the darkness, her elf eyes rendering it not terribly hard to see. "I wonder why she visited us both. I mean, I believe in Illuminar and always tried to follow the Book of Light, but I'm not His most devoted follower. Ethan isn't even sure He exists, so why us?"