A Dragon's Tale Ch. 14

"I don't know. I'm more concerned about these 'dark days' the angel mentioned to both of you." She leaned an arm on the railing and turned toward the elf. "It sounds ominous."

Alana put her hand over her womb. "At least she'll be okay."

Rachel smiled. "You're going to be a wonderful mother."

The wood elf beamed. "Thank you."

They were silent for a few moments before Rachel spoke again. "Any idea how Ethan plans to fight Havorleth?"

"No, but he did come up with a way to improve the grenades so we won't have to worry about a repeat of your wound."

"That was the grenade?" Rachel's jaw dropped. "From that far away?"

Alana nodded, then explained the shrapnel and Ethan's solution for it. "The only real question is how to hollow out some wood so there's room for the gunpowder."

"That's easy, I'll burn it out."

Alana raised her eyebrow.

"Seriously, it was one of the few practical exercise the court mage taught me before my father ordered him to stop. It's a great way to learn control for your ability to manipulate heat. The goal is to have the outside so thin when you're done, that you can roll it out like paper. I was never that good, but I certainly can hollow out a few blocks of wood. We have some the right size in the hold and it doesn't even take that long if you have a decent fire. In fact..."

Rachel looked around at the night sky, which was still an hour or two before daybreak. "I could probably do a few before the sun comes up if we start the breakfast fire early. You can enchant them as I finish. I bet we could get four or five done before daybreak."

Alana beamed.

* * *

Ethan felt around the bed for his lovely bride as he woke. When he didn't feel her, he reached out with his mind. *Good morning beautiful.*

*Good morning handsome.* Her cheery replied came. *Rachel and I have been working on something. I think you'll want to see it.*

*Oh?*

*Hurry. Besides, breakfast is almost ready.*

Ethan yawed and then dragged himself out of the bed. He stretched to work out the kinks from last night's battle. He felt a little stiff, but otherwise right as rain. The sun hadn't risen yet, but the sky had begun to lighten from the blacks of night to the dark blues of pre-dawn.

He left the captain's cabin and walked out onto the weather deck.

Alana and Rachel were sitting next the iron firepan over which breakfast was usually cooked. The fire was lit, but breakfast was nowhere in sight. Rachel was staring intently at a small cylinder of wood about the size of a can of beer. A few feet away, Alana was concentrating on a near identical piece of wood. Nearby, Serif was whittling some small cylindrical pegs and several finished ones lay in a bowl at his feet.

"What's all this?" He asked.

Alana looked up from what she was doing a smiled broadly. The light from the embers cast a warm, flicking glow over her whole body, accentuating her beauty. He knew he could look forward to seeing that smile for the rest of his life and inwardly thought he was the luckiest man alive.

"These are the wooden grenades you mentioned last night." Her eyes twinkled.

He felt his jaw drop. "Really? So fast?"

"Yup."

Rachel spoke up. "They are a lot faster than those metal ones you had me make yesterday, and take far less mana too. I burned out the inside through this hole at the top, and Serif volunteered to make pins to plug them, which Alana can then magically fuse to the grenade's body."

His wife grinned. "As long as these look right, we can fill them with gunpowder and we'll be done. I already put the enchanted leather fuses inside."

"You ladies are amazing!" He bounded over and swept Alana off her feet, pulling her into a fierce hug and kissing her like her life depended on it.

"You better watch it sir, or else..." she trailed off as she looked around at the others, then switched to telepathy. *Or else I might start misplacing my clothes.*

He felt his cock begin to stir, so he activated his disguise gem to make it appear like he wasn't aroused, but still looked like himself as a dragon otherwise.

"Thank you for that." Rachel said with an amused smile.

"For what?" He asked.

She raised her eyebrow, then glanced at the disguise gem hanging from his neck, then at Alana.

"You're incredibly perceptive, did you know that?" He replied.

The corners of Rachel's mouth twitched slightly upward as she gave a subtle smile. On anyone else it would've looked arrogant. But it was slightly endearing on Rachel for some reason.

Ethan let go of Alana, walked over to the redhead and knelt down in front of her. "I owe you a huge 'thank you' for saving my life last night, and an apology." He grimaced. " I'm sorry about the shrapnel from the grenade hurting you."

She smiled back at him. "You're welcome and please don't worry about it. You would've done the same for me, and did. As far as I'm concerned, I'm still in your debt for taking that will-breaker ring off me, not the other way around."

"Well, thank you anyway." He stood up and nodded toward the grenade bodies. "How close are those to being done?"

"Very." Alana replied. "I finished three of them and I'm almost done with this one. If you can mix up some gunpowder and add it, I can seal the tops in five minutes."

Ethan looked around the ship trying to think. They were all tired, but Havorleth had taken a bit of a beating. He had probably healed all his wounds by now, but they needed to fight him anyway and perhaps the early bird would get the worm - or dragon.

"Did anyone see where Havorleth went after he fled?" He asked.

"Aye." Anthiel replied, peaking her head over the railing on the quarter deck. "It was dark, but I believe he headed toward that hill." She pointed to a hill maybe half a mile distant off their port flank.

Ethan took a deep breath and let it out slowly. They had come this far; there was no sense in backing out now.

"Anyone else feeling like a bit of pre-dawn dragon hunting?" He asked.

Rachel frowned. "Is that wise? I don't think any of us are at one hundred percent and a cornered animal is dangerous."

"I agree, but we can't wait around for him to attack us here again, which I'm sure he will before long." Ethan glanced at the dark-blue sky of pre-dawn. "He'll probably attack again later today; I would. We'll be at a disadvantage if we wait at let him attack us here, but we'll have an advantage if we attack him on his own terrain."

"What advantage." Alana asked.

"He won't pursue." Serif said quietly. "He will remain with his golden hoard and defend it to the death. We can retreat if we are losing, but he most likely won't chase us."

"Exactly." Ethan said. "We also have a bunch of the metal grenades left that I'm leery about using. But if we can chuck them into his cave while he's in there, we might not even have to fight him; the grenades might do our job for us and we'd be safe from the shrapnel."

"Ah." Rachel said as she nodded. "Thatis a good plan. I can even use my magic to propel them deeper into the cave."

"Perfect." Ethan said. "Plus, we'll have a few more wooden grenades we can use if he comes out after us. That should at least buy us enough time to get away. He probably won't chase us because he'll want to guard his gold. Heck, even if we don't kill him, we might convince him that we're too dangerous to mess with."

"That's also a good point." Rachel nodded again.

'So, who's up for a spot of dragon hunting on this fine morning?"

"I'll go wherever you do." Alana replied.

"I'm in." Rachel nodded.

"I'll wake Raklan." Serif sighed.

"I'll keep the ship safe." Anthiel offered.

* * *

"I'll watch your back." Beth said softly, though no one could hear her.

She couldn't think of what else to do. She had seen the whole battle between the Argo's crew and Havorleth while feeling powerless do anything. It took most of her concentration to touch something. However, she could move through walls and look ahead for them, not that she could communicate what she saw at the moment.

She'd spent all of the previous day on the Argo, watching everything with interest as they made the grenades. She had been incredibly frustrated because she couldn't ask a single question about them. It was fascinating though.

She wasn't sure what she could do to help, but she knew she wanted to dosomething. She watched as they all scarfed down a hurried breakfast while Alana finished the grenade bodies in-between mouthfuls. Ethan was mixing gunpowder as he ate, and poured it into the grenades when the wood elf was done. Afterwards she sealed the grenade bodies with wooden pegs that Serif had made.

They were ready for war, and Beth couldn't do anything but watch.

As soon as everything was prepared, they lowered the rope ladder and everyone started climbing down. Beth followed them down, wishing she could talk with them and missing their company.

When they all were on the ground, Anthiel pulled up the rope ladder and they began to walk through the rather sparse forest toward Havorleth's lair. It was still before dawn, but not by much. Beth guessed they would reach the dragon's lair a few minutes before the sun crested the horizon.

* * *

Kendra did her third triple check of all her gear and then checked one more time just to be sure. She knew ten times was excessive, but she wasn't leaving anything to chance. Not after what happened the last time she crossed this dragon.

The previous night, she'd dropped her tiny airship into a gap in the trees where a wide river flowed. She adjusted the trim so she was only a few feet above the water, then lowered her caterpillar.

The caterpillar was an enchanted leather strip about five feet long and two feet tall with floats on it. When it landed in the water, it caught the current while the floats kept it from sinking. It was attached to her airship with a rope, and it pulled her along with the current. That allowed her to creep silently toward the dragon's airship below the tree line where she wouldn't be spotted. She was only a few hundred yards away by midnight when she'd pulled out the caterpillar and dropped the anchor.

It was a perfect position to strike at dawn.

She'd woken just before the sky began to brighten in the east. She planned to put an arrow through that dragon's heart the moment she saw the sun peak over the horizon. Now, she thanked Illuminar that they were voluntarily climbing down out of the airship.

This would be easier than she thought.

She double checked the quiver at her side - the dragon-slayer arrows were too heavy for the back - strung the Dragon Slayer, then set off after them. She couldn't believe her luck and thought that maybe Illuminar had blessed her after all.

It would be an easy hunt.

* * *

Beth followed Ethan, Alana, Rachel, Serif, and Raklan, walking close beside her husband as they went. It was strange just how much she'd missed him in the short time she'd been away. By her count, it had been nine days between her death and him rescuing her.

She smiled wryly; her death.

The Argo's crew walked in silence, though there were armed to the teeth. Alana had her bow and a short sword at her side, which she had grabbed from the ship's armory. Ethan had his war hammer and spear, as well as two satchels whose straps crisscrossed on his chest. One held the metal grenades, the other held the new wooden ones. Serif and Raklan both had long spears in their hands, longswords at their waists, and large shields on their backs.

When they were a hundred yards from the hill, the thin forest ended and opened onto a large clearing which appeared to encircle the hill. Ethan motioned for everyone to stop.

"Here's the plan." He whispered. "We're going to circle around the hill from the cover of the trees until we see the entrance. Then Rachel, Serif Raklan and I will sneak up."

Alana opened her mouth, but he held up his hand. "Honey, you're deadly with that bow from any range. I want you to stay back, hidden behind cover. Then if he leaves the cave, I want you to put an arrow through any weak spot you see. He hopefully won't notice you, and you can get a good sucker punch in."

She nodded. "I'll go for the eyes, or maybe even his mouth if he leaves it open long enough."

"Good idea." He nodded. "Once the rest of us are at the entrance, we'll use the leftover metal grenades." He indicated one of the satchels that was slung over his shoulder. "I'll throw them as far inside the cave as I can and Rachel will use her magic to give them a boost. Serif, Raklan; be ready in case he comes charging out after us."

Serif nodded, while Raklan grumbled something that didn't sound like a compliment.

Ethan ignored him. "If the first round of grenades doesn't get him, I'll toss some more and then we'll retreat back into the forest and come back later. Worst case scenario, I'll use the wooden grenades to distract him while we escape. Everyone clear?"

There was a general murmur of assent from everyone but Raklan, who grumbled something. Serif gave him a look, shook his head fractionally, and then Raklan too mumbled something in agreement.

Beth found herself wondering how Serif could have Raklan so completely under control. Raklan was easily a whole head taller and probably twice Serif's weight and all the difference was muscle. Yet the bigger man quickly and easily capitulated to the smaller.

It made her curious.

Very curious.

She looked at the sky. It was bright blue and nearly cloudless, though the sun hadn't risen yet. She thought it couldn't be more than fifteen or twenty minutes before it would, as the hue in the east was quite bright.

Dawn was coming soon.

"Let's go." Ethan said, and they started winding their way around the base of the hill.

It only took fifteen minutes to find the entrance because it wasn't concealed at all.

It was cut into the rock of the hill, and the opening was relatively small, round, and about six feet across; just big enough for Havorleth to enter without difficulty. More importantly for the larger dragon, no more than two men could come at him at once, and they would be easy prey for his dragon's breath.

Beth remembered reading that this was the reason dragons preferred caves for their hoard. The small entrances made any would-be robbers easy targets for their breath, making it easy to defend without the dragon endangering himself.

Seeing it now, it made perfect sense.

Alana found a large boulder to hide behind at the edge of the trees, about a hundred yards across a grassy field from the cave's entrance. The boulder had several dense bushes nearby so she could still see from concealment. Ethan, Rachel, Serif, and Raklan snuck up to the entrance, making sure to stay completely out of sight of the dragon within.

They stacked up next to the entrance, waiting with baited breath.

Beth - who knew she couldn't be seen or heard - threw caution to the wind and ran inside. The cave wasn't terribly deep, maybe fifteen or twenty feet before it curved to the right and up a short rise. After another ten feet, it opened up into a small room about twenty feet round with a ten foot domed ceiling.

Havorleth was there, sleeping next to a small pile of gold.

Beth cocked her head to the one side.

Why was the pile of gold so small?

The gold that Havorleth was sleeping next to was incredibly valuable. However, it was far too small for a dragon of his size according to everything she'd read about them. It seemed like a dragon his size should have a hoard at least five times this size, and ten times seemed more reasonable.

It was so small.

Why was it so small?

It made no sense according to everything she'd read. Havorleth would need a far larger hoard to get enough magic to grow to his size and still be able to enchant himself effectively.

So why?

Why was Havorleth's hoard so small for such a large dragon?

* * *

Kendra snuck toward the boulder where the wood elf in the green dress was concealed. The chocolate-haired elf was too busy concentrating on the entrance to the other dragon's lair to notice anything else, which was good because Kendra wasn't sure she could've snuck up on her otherwise.

The bounty specified both of them, and it did say alive was an option. Looking at the wood elf, she was glad the bounty was for the living.

She slipped the small vial of enchanted chloroform out of her belt and wetted a rag she kept for this purpose. The chloroform became much more potent with the enchantment. It knocked them out almost instantly and kept them unconscious for twenty or thirty minutes.

Kendra stole through the forest toward her quarry, using all her skill to keep the noise of her movement down. It wasn't easy and she was out of practice. Fortunately, the ambient sounds of the forest and the wood elf's hyper-focused attention made it much easier.

About the time the small dragon reached the other dragon's lair, Kendra was right behind the wood elf. She reached out and clamped the cloth over the elf's face at the same time that she grabbed her around the waist to prevent her from escaping.

The elf did exactly what everyone does when this happens.

She instinctively took a sharp breath in.

The enchanted fumes overwhelmed the tiny wood elf in moments and she went limp. Kendra let her to the ground slowly, making sure she wasn't hurt. She wasn't, though she'd have a nasty headache when she woke. She checked her pulse, which was still strong and healthy.

Kendra then silently drew one of her Dragon Slayer Arrows from its sheath, knocked it into the bowstring, activated her strength enhancing vambraces, and then looked at the sky. It was so bright she was surprised that she didn't see the sun peeking over the horizon. It might be another few seconds - possibly a minute or two - but not longer.

It was almost dawn.

* * *

Beth was walking out of the cave toward Ethan and the others when she noticed something in the distance. Where Alana had hidden, there was a head with very dark hair poking up. At this distance she wasn't sure, but it didn't look like the wood elf's head.

She also noticed the shadows from the sun were finally starting to disappear. The moment the sun's light fell on the dark head, a woman stood up holding an enormous bow...

But it wasn't Alana.

She was too tall and the bow she held made a stark contrast to the wood elf's bow. This one was dark gray with a wide slot in the middle and looked vaguely metallic, whereas Alana's bow was made of graceful, elegant wood. The woman drew the bow back - evidently with some difficulty - and aimed it at Ethan.

Beth panicked.

She did the only thing she could think of to save her husband. She concentrated all of her willpower into making her hands solid, then she ran at him as fast as she could. She made contact and pushed him in the chest as hard as she possibly could, throwing all her body weight into the push hoping to get him out of the way.

It only partially worked.

She got a good push for a moment, but then her concentration slipped and she ran right through him.

"What the hell?" Ethan said as he jumped back in shock.

Barely a second later, an arrow slammed into the rock behind where he had just been standing. It made a loud clanging, scraping sound as it hit the rock wall.

Beth breathed a sigh of relief... at least until she heard a rumbling from inside the cave.

"Who's out there?" Havorleth's voice boomed from the cave. The element of surprising was lost.

The dragon was awake.

* * *

Ethan heard Havorleth's question. But he stared at the Dragon Slayer arrow in shock for a moment anyway before turning to see where it had come from.

"Kendra!" He hissed.