A Dragon's Tale Ch. 18

"We're ready here." Anthiel said. "Go ahead and signal Ethan."

*Master, we're ready to open the portal.* She said to him telepathically.

*We're ready over here too. Go ahead.*

The Fey teen nodded to Anthiel and they both put their hands on the large control crystal and started feeding mana into it. It sucked it up like a sponge. It took almost a minute to fully charge the main gem and all seven of the other gems located on the large ring itself. When it was fully charged, it stopped accepting mana, which was good because Taloni was very nearly out.

When they were done, all seven gems on the ring flashed at the same moment, then something that looked almost like water started flowing from the inside of the ring toward the open center. It moved like honey or maple syrup; slowly and like it was very thick. In seconds it had met in the center, forming a membrane and then began to relax.

Moments later, Ethan stepped through the portal and shivered. "God that's an unpleasant feeling."

Taloni charged forward, using her wings to propel herself forward faster, collided with her husband, wrapping her arms around him as she did so.

He staggered back slightly.

"I missed you so--"

Her words were cut off as they staggered backwards through the portal at the impact of her tackle-hug. Passing through it felt like getting a bone deep chill which then completely disappeared, only to be replaced by a slight warming sensation and simultaneously no small amount of chills.

But that wasn't what cut her off mid-sentence.

It was the air.

The weight.

As they stumbled through the portal, Taloni suddenly felt like the air was made of water or perhaps like a thick blanket had settled over her nose and mouth. It was stifling and she could barely breathe.

She felt light-headed and collapsed into his arms.

"I missed you too." She heard him as if from a long way off as she struggled to stay conscious.

"Taloni?"

"Taloni?!"

She heard him shout her name as blackness slowly closed in on her. It felt like an eternity that she struggled to cling to the waking world. She heard Alana shout something as she fought to stay awake. She again felt the strange sensation of bone-deep-chill followed by both a warming and cooling sensation simultaneously.

Then she was fine.

She shook her head as her breathing returned and blinked. She was in Ethan's arms in the cavern with the portal.

"Oh thank God." Ethan breathed as she stirred.

"What was..." She looked around. "What was that?"

"Rachel and Alana said the barrier between the Ether and the physical world is much thicker on my world." He explained. "I'm guessing that didn't agree with you at all."

She shook her head. "That was awful."

"Ethan, the portal's closing soon." Anthiel called.

He set her down. "Are you okay?"

"I will be." She stepped backwards, being careful to avoid Beth's body. "Take care of her; I can't wait to meet my new fellow wife."

Ethan broke out into a wide smile, but nevertheless looked very confused. "I am so blessed." He picked up Beth carefully and tenderly, gave the Fey teen a peck on the cheek, and then stepped through the portal again. Several seconds later, it started to close.

*Seriously though.* Ethan said from worlds away as the portal swirled like water down a drain until it disappeared. *You and Alana are amazing women and you get along so well. I recently gained a whole new appreciation for how wonderful that is; for how wonderful you both are.*

Taloni felt her heart swell to roughly ten times the size of the cavern. *Thank you master."

*I mean it, and you're welcome.* He said. *Now, are you sure you're okay?*

*I am sure master, thank you for asking.*

*Good if you'll excuse me, I need to raise the dead.*

*Have fun master, and please hurry back.*

*I will.*

She took a few deep breaths, and felt the last of the strange sensation of the other world leave her. It really was like not being able to breathe, though it was mana and not air that she had trouble "breathing" in. Any lingering discomfort she had felt was washed away as remembered Ethan's compliment.

The Fey teen felt like she was walking on cloud nine as she strode back to where Anthiel was at the control podium. The beautiful high elf was leaning on it and appeared to be slightly winded.

"Are you okay?" Taloni asked.

Anthiel nodded. "Yes, I'm just not as young as I used to be. It's all downhill after one hundred and twenty."

The Fey felt her jaw drop. "You're one hundred and twenty? That's like--" She did the math. "--over six times my age."

"Actually, I'm older than that." Anthiel smiled. "Way to make a girl feel young."

"Oh, sorry."

"I'm teasing dear girl, relax." The high elf said with a pleasant laugh.

"Oh, good." She hesitated a moment, then asked. "So, can you start teaching me how to fly the airship now?"

"Absolutely, let's head back." Anthiel replied.

As they walked back to the Argo, Taloni noticed that the three men they'd freed from Gonorran appeared to be sizing them up as they passed. They had started giving her the creeps whenever she saw them and picked up the pace.

Once back on the Argo, Taloni followed Anthiel up to the quarterdeck.

"So where do we start?" The excited teen asked.

"Right here." Anthiel sat down cross-legged and started her deep breathing exercises to restore her mana.

"This again?" She felt her shoulders slump.

"Yes, this again. I promise there's crucial, vital lesson about piloting an airship buried in this."

"Okay." She sat down and started restoring her mana, the whole time feeling like she was being had. She didn't really think the high elf was tricking her, but it sure felt like it.

* * *

Selene parked her SUV quite a ways down the street from Jason's apartment and glanced at the passenger seat. She'd put a bunch of snaky food from a nearby gas station on the seat and even gotten a few empty cups with sealable lids in case she accidentally drank too much water.

That wasn't going to be fun if she needed to.

Ignoring the bottle water, she grabbed the binoculars from the center console, set them on the dashboard, and then pulled out her phone.

"I'm in position." She said when Mason had picked up.

"Good, don't take your eyes off that building and let me know if you see anything worth mentioning."

"Will do."

"Talk later boot." He said, then hung up.

Selene was half tempted to call her dad and ask him about the picture right now. She wasn't sure it was a good idea to be talking on the phone right now though. Sighing, she grabbed her coffee and took a measured sip. It would be a long wait, and she wondered what shenanigans the dragon man was getting up to.

* * *

911 CALL TRANSCRIPT -- 8:02 PM -- MALE CALLER

OPERATOR: "911, what is your emergency?"

CALLER: "Oh man, you gotta help me."

OPERATOR: "What's wrong sir?"

CALLER: "My wife, she had an accident with a boxcutter while we were loading a delivery. Oh man, there's blood everywhere. You gotta send somebody."

OPERATOR: "Okay sir, I need you to put pressure on the wound to slow the bleeding."

CALLER: "I'm doing that, but she's so pale. There's so much blood."

OPERATOR: "What's your location?"

CALLER: "Um, I'm near the corner of Lincoln Street and Main. Down the alley."

OPERATOR: "Okay sir, I'm sending an ambulance to your location now."

OPERATOR INPUT: DISPATCH AMBULANCE TO LOCATION -- ONE FEMALE INJURED AND LOSING BLOOD.

OPERATOR: "Okay sir, I need you to keep pressure on the wound

CALLER: "I am, the trouble is--"

OPERATOR: "Could you repeat that sir?"

CALLER: "--and I'm not sure what's--" "--it's just a--"

OPERATOR: "Sir, I'm losing you."

CALLER: "--are you there? My damn phone is--" "--battery isn't--"

OPEATOR: "Sir, is your phone about to die?"

CALLER: "--say something about--" "--Yeah, I'm about to lose--"

OPERATOR: "Sir, sir are you still there?"

CALL LOG: CALL DROPPED

* * *

Ethan pulled the battery out of the phone and the screen went blank as the 911 operator's voice abruptly ceased. "That should do it."

Alana and Rachel were giving him strange looks and staring at the phone in his hand.

"You told us what they did, but somehow..." Rachel trailed off with an impressed look on her face. "What genius created those?"

"A scientist." He replied with more than a little glee.

Rachel's cheeks got slightly pink. "You can't be serious."

Alana laughed.

He shrugged. "All the technological marvels you see around you were made possible by science. All of them, though the actual inventions themselves were by engineers and inventors. Humanity has done pretty well for itself without magic I'd say."

Rachel made a thoughtful sound. She wasn't exactly disagreeing, but she also seemed reluctant to agree. She turned back to the metal trash can they had 'borrowed' from a nearby residence, and she made sure the fire inside was large enough for her to draw heat from.

Ethan heard the sirens in the distance. "Okay, let's get ready."

They were in an alley with a small loading area in the middle of it. The loading area formed a square alcove about twenty feet on a side, which is where they'd setup to revive Beth. The location would prevent anyone from seeing them -- and the magic -- except the paramedics who would be looking for them. It also allowed an easy way to control access and escape. He wasn't sure how thrilled the paramedics would be at having been brought here under somewhat false pretenses.

He had waited for the cover of night, then flown her body to the alley to make sure they weren't seen. To make extra sure, he had used his disguise gem to make him resemble a giant bald eagle while flying. It seemed to have worked, as there was no indication anyone had seen them.

He stood in the alley, doing his best to look very agitated and nervous so the paramedics would buy the story long enough to get to the loading area where Beth was laying.

It wasn't hard.

"Here they come." He said as the ambulance pulled up to the end of the alley and the paramedics jumped out. One paramedic was a fit man who looked to be just under six feet, the other was a woman a few inches shorter; both looked to be in their mid-late twenties.

It was time.

"Hey, over here!" He shouted to them and then ducked into the loading area.

A few moments later they had run down the alley and rounded the corner before stopping short and looking at the scene suspiciously.

He didn't blame them.

Instead of a bleeding woman in pain and someone trying to stop the bleeding, they were confronted with Beth's still-rigid, blood covered corpse, Alana and Rachel standing nearby, and Ethan; all looking mostly calm.

The moment they ran into the loading area, Ethan stepped out behind them blocking their way back to the ambulance. As planned, Alana and Rachel stepped out in position to block them from proceeding further down the alley.

"What the hell is this?" The male paramedic asked looking at Beth's body and the Argo crew's positions.

"We might've called you here underslightly false pretenses." Ethan replied, emphasizing the word 'slightly'. He had considered what to say for most of the afternoon, and finally settle on being honest up front.

Well, honest after lying to get them here.

The female paramedic stepped behind the man, who shielded her protectively. He then slipped his right hand under his shirt by his right hip and left it there. There was a slight bulge under the shirt. "You try anything and I will riddle you with holes. We've heard about the kidnappings around here, and you aren't taking us anywhere."

Ethan internally groaned; why did they have to get a paramedic who was packing heat? "We mean you no harm, and we weren't kidding about needing blood to save my wife."

"Bullshit." The female paramedic replied, clearly rattled. "That girl is dead, and it looks like someone slit her throat."

She reached for her radio

"I wouldn't do that." He warned.

She ignored him and reached for it... moments before one of Alana's arrows pierced it through, ripping it off her shoulder without so much as grazing her hand.

The male paramedic started to draw his pistol while facing Alana. Ethan felt like his heart was being crushed. There was nothing he could do to save her from being shot. There was no attack he could launch that was fast enough to save her.

Fortunately, Rachel was there.

As the man's gun cleared the holster, Rachel -- obviously sensing he was using a weapon -- pushed her hands out, palms open. An air-ram hit the two paramedics and blasted them off their feet and into the wall behind. They crumpled to the ground clearly dazed.

The man's pistol clattered to the ground.

Ethan lunged forward to grab the gun and then breathed a sigh of relief as he unloaded it. It didn't look like that fellow had spent a lot of time practicing his draw. If he had, this might've gone very differently.

He breathed another sigh of relief.

Rachel and Alana didn't quite seem to understand why he was so relived, even though he'd explained guns to them. Apparently, it was something you needed to see to believe.

"What the hell was that?" The male paramedic groaned as he struggled to his feet. The woman wasn't far behind him, though she looked far more scared than he did.

"Magic." Ethan replied simply.

This was met with a scoff from him and a skeptical look from her.

"Like I was saying, we mean you no harm." He repeated. "Further, we really do need your help to save my wife."

The male paramedic looked at the Argo's crew and seemed to relax slightly. Alana was still carrying her bow and Rachel was wary, but they weren't doing anything threatening, despite having disarmed them.

"I'm listening." He said.

"What are your names?" Ethan asked.

"Ted."

"Sophia."

"Okay Ted and Sophia, my wife needs a blood transfusion."

"I don't want to be insensitive, but that girl is dead." Ted replied.

Sophia nodded. "Full rigor mortis has clearly set in, so she's been dead for hours; way too long to revive."

"Does rigor mortis affect the hair?" Ethan asked.

"No."

"Then why don't you go look at her hair."

They both gave him confused looks.

"It's not rigor mortis; someone put a stasis spell on her less than a minute after she died."

"A stasis spell?" Ted raised his eyebrow; he clearly didn't believe a word that Ethan was saying.

"Don't believe me; look at her. Look at her hair. Does that really look like rigor mortis to you?"

Ted kept his eyes on the Argo's crew, but Sophia glanced over at the body. She cocked her head to one side as she looked at it. Some of Beth's hair was sticking out at an upward angle. It clearly had no support from anything and yet was sticking into the air in an impossible way.

"Ted." She said hesitantly.

"What?" He didn't look, keeping his eyes on the Argo's crew.

"Something's wrong with her hair."

"Priorities." He still didn't look, and gestured to the people who had them trapped in the little alcove.

"No, you really need to see this." Sophia insisted.

Ted glanced at the body then back at Ethan. He looked at Ethan for several moments before getting a confused look on his face. He cocked his head to one side, turning it as far as he could toward Beth's body without taking his eyes off of Ethan, then glanced again.

This time he looked longer.

"What the...?" He muttered.

Sophia took a step towards the body and Ted moved to keep himself between the Argo's crew and her. Upon reaching the body, Sophia bent down and gently poked Beth's hair. It flexed slightly, but resisted her touch with no visible support from anything.

"This is..." She touched the hair again. "What is this?"

"A stasis spell, like I said." Ethan replied. "Look at the blood. Does it look dried and congealed to you, or wet and like it should be flowing."

Sophia crouched down and looked closer while Ted watched them warily. She squinted her eyes and leaned in even closer, examining the frozen liquid blood from a distance of only a few inches.

"Ted, you really need to see this." She said after a moment.

Ted seemed hesitant, So Ethan said: "If we wanted to hurt you, we would've done so already. I give you my word we won't hurt you... unless you try to shoot Alana again."

Ted narrowed his eyes, then apparently decided Ethan had a good point. He took a few steps back so Beth's body was between him and the Argo's crew. Only then -- when he could keep an eye on them even while examining the body -- did he look down.

"What the fuck?" He said after a few seconds. "The hair, the blood, it's..."

"Not possible." Sophia suggested.

"Not possible without magic." Ethan corrected. "Someone cast a stasis spell on her maybe thirty seconds after she died. I don't think there's any brain damage because of the stasis spell, but she died from blood loss. If you can replace the blood, Rachel here--" He indicated the redhead. "--will lift the stasis spell and a little CPR should bring her back... I hope."

They both stared at him.

"She's my wife; I have to try." He said letting his genuine emotion show through. "But I can't do a transfusion, so I need your help. Will you please help me?"

"Magic?" Ted said. It didn't take a body language expert to know that he thought Ethan was blowing smoke.

"We thought you might be reluctant to believe it, so we prepared something to help." Ethan said, then turned and nodded to Rachel.

The teen mage nodded, then turned towards the large metal trash can they'd placed in a corner of the loading area. She waved her hands towards it, and a stream of fire came out of the trashcan and into her waiting hands.

She moved it from hand to hand several times, then smiled as if something had just occurred to her. She set the fireball between her hands, and then spread them apart as if stretching a large lump of stretchy dough. The fireball lengthened into a long, thin ribbon of flame, which Rachel then began to move around as if it was an actual ribbon.

She started moving as she did, spinning and twirling with the grace and athleticism of ballet dancer combined with the subtly sensuality of some of the tamer Latin dances.

It was breathtaking.

She moved and spun, keeping the fire ever-moving and ever-rippling as she painted the most complex and intricate shapes into the air with the flaming ribbon. She twirled the fire all around herself. He almost thought she would burn herself several times because it got so close, but of course she was too good to make such a mistake.

Then she added another fiery ribbon.

She pulled the heat from the nearby trash-can's fire and started moving twin flaming ribbons at the same time. It was an incredible display of magic and dancing skill, and one he would've paid dearly to see in a theater. As it was, he could only stare open-mouthed at the lithe teen's dance.

It was somehow extremely sensual and incredible innocent at the same time. It was sexy, but not quite arousing. It showcased her body, sensuality, and grace, while simultaneously not veering into a raunchy or pretentious display. The dichotomy was at once confusing and alluring.

Dancing like this, she seemed so innocent and yet so sensual at the same time; so powerful and yet so vulnerable; so beautiful and graceful there was only one word for it.

She was beautiful.

Truly beautiful.

He didn't know why he hadn't seen it before. He had noticed that she was attractive, but hadn't ever realized he was attracted. And it wasn't just physical either; the lovely redhead was brilliant and selfless, caring and kind. He cocked his head to one side. She was an amazing woman.