A Dragon's Tale Ch. 27

Her strength enhancing vambraces had been removed but otherwise she seemed to be fine. The room was very quiet, except for a few people breathing nearby. Her nose and ears told her a dragon was about; they all had the same scent and breathing pattern. She could hear at least one other person breathing in long, slow, relaxing breaths.

Taloni perhaps?

Satisfied that she wasn't going to be impaled if she moved, she opened her eyes and sat up in one smooth motion.

"Holy shit!" Ethan exclaimed, clearly startled.

"Kendra!" Taloni said excitedly. "You're okay."

"I am."

"How long have you been awake?" Ethan asked.

"Long enough." She replied, keeping him guessing. He might not be an overt enemy, but he was still a dragon. She didn't trust them as far as she could throw themwithout her strength enhancing vambraces, which honestly wasn't far.

Taloni was sitting cross-legged and probably meditating to replenish her mana because she recognized the pose. Ethan was sitting against the bars, clearly exhausted and bored out of his skull. Rachel was still out cold on the ground, but didn't look hurt. She had a leather collar on, probably one enchanted to prevent her from using magic. Kendra readjusted so she was as far away from Ethan as possible, which unfortunately wasn't far. He said nothing in response, but did raised his eyebrow.

Kendra looked around the room, taking in the wooden walls, steel-clad door, and the laboratory beyond it. "What's the situation?"

"Pretty much what you see." He replied. "Beth tried talking to the king, but they won't search anything belonging to Lord Delmar without two or three witnesses confirming he or his men were the ones to kidnap us."

"The Book of Light." The dragon huntress nodded. "Every accusation confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses."

"Yeah, she mentioned that. It makes sense, but sucks right now."

"What are we going to do to escape?" Taloni asked fearfully.

"Honestly, I have no idea." Ethan replied, but Kendra didn't buy it. He looked at Taloni for a moment and the Fey girl nodded moments later. She was still fearful, but less so.

Bloody telepathy.

"What are you up to?" Kendra mouthed.

He gave her a suspicious look.

"I'm imprisoned with you genius." She retorted out loud. "It's not like I wanted this. If they would've shown up five minute later, I would've been halfway back to my ship."

"Oh." Taloni said looking a little deflated. "You weren't going to stick around for a little while?"

"Why would I spend more time with a dragon than I have to?" She replied, then at the Fey's sad look added. "Though, I could've maybe make time for... for a friend."

Taloni smiled.

She had a great smile. It lit up the room a little bit.

"Well, if you're not going to tell me what you're thinking, what do we do now?" Kendra finally asked.

"We wait until my mana is full, and then Rachel's." He replied. "She's sharp as a whip and together I'm sure the four of us can come up with something."

Kendra nodded, not mentioning that Lord Delmar was as meticulous as he was vindictive. It was highly unlikely that he'd left any loopholes or weaknesses to exploit.

* * *

After cleaning up the mess, Selene had spent most of the morning and afternoon learning about the inn and the work she'd be doing there. Sarah showed her around the kitchen, outbuildings, and the inn itself. It was a nice place overall, if a bit worn and past its prime. The girl had also shown her a bit about cooking over a fire and they'd talked about seasonings. The Brazilian woman would've sworn Sarah started to glow when they got on the topic.

"Do... do you want to see my garden?" Sarah asked after Selene's eyes had glazed slightly as the girl described the different plants she used for seasonings.

"Okay. I mean, if there's nothing else I should do."

"Nope." She said with a smile. "Mostly the afternoons are really quite unless we have a guest who wants to spend the day here. That used to happen all the time, but not much anymore." Her face fell and she looked almost guilty.

"Why doesn't it happen anymore?" She asked, her detective instincts kicking in.

"Um, I'd rather not say?" Sarah didn't met her eyes as she replied.

"So, you were going to show me your garden..." Selene prompted to save the girl some embarrassment, though she was still curious.

The girl started smiling again and led her outside and towards the forest. They walked for only a few minutes when they came to a small clearing. At the center was a carefully constructed fence and cover for the top, both of which were framed with sticks and had what looked like bailing twine for a large screen. The twine had been so carefully wrapped that most animals wouldn't have been able to get in. Inside was a collection of small plants, a few of which Selene recognized as herb plants.

"Aren't they beautiful!" Sarah exclaimed as she pulled the cover off, slipped inside and lovingly caressed a few of the plants.

"They are."

Selene spent the next half an hour hearing more than she could ever hope to retain about the various herbs and their ideal uses in cooking. The ex-FBI agent couldn't help but have a grin on her face as she listened. In contrast to the girl's behavior in the inn, she seemed happier out here; freer. From an objective standpoint, Sarah was a rather plain, unassuming girl in terms of physical beauty. However the look on her face now was so happy that she looked radiant despite her otherwise plain appearance.

"How did you learn so much about cooking?" Selene asked when the girl paused to draw breath.

"Um, partially from my mom before she passed." Sarah replied. "Partially from experimenting at the inn. I can try a lot of different flavor combinations to see how people like them."

"I've never been much good at cooking." Selene admitted.

Sarah looked confused. "But if you aren't good at cooking, how will you ever make good meals for your future husband?"

"TV dinners and restaurants." The Brazilian woman shrugged.

"Huh?"

"Never mind." She shook her head. "That's why you learned to cook? So you could make meals for your future husband?"

"Of course." She nodded. "I really want to be a good wife."

"That's really great of you." Selene said, even more impressed by this delightful girl. "I'm not even sure I want to get married."

"But if you wanted to get married, you could have any man you want because you're so beautiful." Sarah said wistfully. She seemed jealous, but not in a bad way. "I wish I could get a great husband."

"You're a great girl Sarah, I'm sure you can."

The girl's shoulders slumped and she slowly shook her head. "A good husband maybe, but not a great one." A moment later she clapped her hand over her mouth. "I didn't mean that! I didn't mean that he won't be a good husband. I just meant that... I mean, he'll probably be... uh..."

Selene opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted.

"Sarah!" Her father called from the inn, which was maybe a hundred yards away through the sparse woods.

"Coming father!" She called back, then looked at Selene sadly. "I have to go. Rindrin -- the blacksmith -- will be at the inn by now."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No. It's a good thing; it really it is." She replied without conviction as she looked at Selene sadly. "I promise that I'm not being ungrateful, but..." She looked towards the inn sadly, then put the cover back over her plants. "I have to go."

Selene found herself more intrigued than ever by what was going on with the girl as she followed her back towards the inn. There was something really strange going on with her, and the inn, and apparently the blacksmith too. Hell, the whole outpost seemed like something out of the Twilght Zone. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she was determined to find out.

* * *

Rachel felt like her entire body was strapped with lead weights. Her arms, her legs, her head, even her chest felt like moving them would be akin to lifting a castle above her head. Even her eyelids felt like someone had hung anvils on them. She knew exactly why she felt this way, and her heart fluttered slightly.

She'd bonded to Ethan.

Effectively, she'd married him. Whiletechnically there hadn't been any vows, there was no denying how deep bonding went. For all intents and purposes, she was married. She -- the proud, independent, stubborn woman that she was -- had pledged herself to a man by sharing her soul with him. Well, deep mana; but they were almost the same thing. Rachel Delmar had done that.

Then she had to correct herself.

She wasn't 'Rachel Delmar' anymore. Rachel Delmar had ceased to exist when she'd bonded to Ethan.

She was Rachel Ejder now.

She couldn't help but smile slightly at the thought of her new name. She cast about in her mind for a trance of Ethan's emotions, but didn't feel anything. She wasn't surprised because they'd only been bonded a short time, though she didn't know how long.

Hmm.

How long had she been unconscious?

Where was she?

Slowly and with great difficulty, she opened one eye. She appeared to be in a jail cell composed of iron bars inside a larger wooden room. Ethan was staring at the ceiling while Taloni was sitting in a meditative pose slowly breathing in and out. Probably replenishing her mana. She could feel something around her neck, and guessed it was an enchanted collar to restrain her from using magic. A quick attempt to use magic confirmed that.

Rachel checked her mana and was shocked to discover that her deep mana was much fuller than it had been when she'd passed out the previous night. Even more oddly, a significant chunk of it appeared to be Ethan's deep mana, but it wasn't hard like it had previously been. It had mixed with hers so thoroughly that it was hard to tell where hers ended and his began.

"Hey, you're awake." Ethan's voice came softly; tenderly.

She groaned, wishing she had the energy to do more.

He leaned forward so he was by her face. He had a smile that was hard to place. There was definitely concern, but mostly he looked contented. He was gazing at her and looking contented.

She sighed.

"Thank you Rachel." He said softly. "I'd be dead now if it wasn't for you, and I know you had no interest in bonding to me."

She managed a half smile and mumbled. "I wouldn't say 'no' interest."

"Oh?"

She groaned and attempted to nod, but was too exhausted.

"Here, let me help." He said.

Moments later, she felt his hand touch her gently. Moments after that, she felt his deep mana begin to push into her and she didn't block it. It spread into her, suffusing with her own deep mana and mixing like two liquids poured into the same jar. Slowly, she started to feel better.

After a minute, she sat up and leaned on the iron bars; still exhausted but feeling better. "Thank you."

"You're..." He yawed, clearly more fatigued than he had been only minutes ago. "You're welcome."

"Hi Rachel." Taloni said; she looked quite tired.

"Hi." She gave the Fey a smile. "I take it you've been helping him with his deep mana, and he with mine?"

She nodded.

Rachel made a mental note to talk to the honey-blonde to see how she tolerated calling Ethan 'master'. She had a feeling that she would need some serious coping skills to deal with that kind of thing. The redhead looked around to see that Kendra was also in the cell with them. The dragon huntress had a look of mild disgust on her face.

"What?" Rachel asked, glad that the iron bars were so supportive, as her arms and back were slightly protesting the requirement to support her right now.

"You bonded with a dragon." She looked a little green around the gills and shuddered in revulsion.

"None taken." Ethan said frostily.

"I'm glad to hear that bothers you so much Kendra." A feminine voice said from the doorway.

All four of them turned to see Lady Ekthros standing there. She was wearing another dress which was also cut to make her look menacing, and the look on her face was one of glee. Well, perhaps not glee. It took a moment for Rachel to recognize the look, and she gulped when she did. It was the look that the older woman displayed when she had come up with a particularly devious way of getting revenge. Rachel had seen it many times, and it never boded well for her intended victims.

"Why glad?" Kendra asked conversationally.

"Because I've been asking myself what's a proper recompense for a betrayal like yours, and especially for someone who hates dragons so much."

It took Rachel a moment to put two-and-two together as far as what the incredibly devious Lady's plan might be. The thought that occurred to her made her internally groan.

No.

Not after she'd just bonded to Ethan. Lady Ekthros couldn't be thinking... could she?

"I've never met you before yesterday, how could I have betrayed you?" Kendra countered.

"You were contracted to hunt a dragon down on my orders. However, not only did you fail to bring in your prey, but you actually joined his cause."

Lady Ekthros took a step inside the room and Rachel took a deep breath. That woman had a way of finding someone's weak point and squeezing. Apparently, she'd found Kendra's. The redhead just hoped her revenge wasn't what she thought it might be.

"What do you mean by 'proper recompense'?" Ethan asked looking tired, no doubt because he'd just give her some of his mana.

The lady grinned wickedly, then addressed Kendra again. "You're a special case, and will become an example to anyone who would break a contract with Lord Delmar. I've thought of many fitting punishments, but none seemed right. I had planned to make you a dragon breeder, being forced to birth dragons for the next few decades."

Kendra shuddered.

Rachel also shuddered, knowing that would be a horrible fate for any woman, much less one who hated dragons so much. She thought of her own close call with Kyrupto and felt sorry for the dragon huntress.

"However, I don't think that'squite enough." Lady Ekthros walked further into the room, surveying the captives with disdain. "This dragon can't help what he is, and these pathetic women who've been caught by him are already a lost cause. But you aren't... or at least weren't."

She knelt down, far enough away that Ethan couldn't reach her if he lunged through the bars, but close enough for Rachel to see the glimmer of malevolence in her eyes. "So I thought of something different. Something you'll hate even more and is more fitting than what I had planned."

Kendra let out a subtle sigh of relief.

"Oh don't mistake me, you'll still be repeatedly raped and bred by dragons for the next several decades. I do need more dragon scale and skin after all. However, what I have in store for you will start now and be a bit more... personal. Your dalliances with this dragon have interrupted my plans. I must make an example out of you for Lord Delmar's sake. But this... this will be my own little triumph; a personal secret revenge just between us girls."

She finished with the air of a woman sharing a secret with a girlfriend, which somehow made it creepier.

Kendra didn't look impressed. "There's nothing you can do to me that's worse than what you've already described, and you have no leverage to make me do anything."

Rachel would've warned her that saying this was a mistake, but had a sinking feeling that the dragon huntress would find out momentarily.

"Oh, but I do have leverage. You let it slip how much you care about her." She glanced at Taloni. "If you comply, nothing bad will happen to the Fey girl; nothing bad at all. But ifall of you don't submit to my plan, she'll take Kendra's place with the dragons... and the raping... and the breeding..."

Kendra looked visibly shaken.

Ethan leapt to his feet, swayed slightly and grabbed a bar for support, then growled at the woman. "Over my dead body."

"If need be." Lady Ekthros casually flicked her finger in his direction and he was blown backwards, hitting the rear of the cell and falling to the ground. He growled at her from the ground.

"The dragons won't be interested in Taloni." Rachel said weakly from the floor. "A Drago didn't want me because I was only half-bonded to Ethan."

Lady Ekthros laughed. "Dragos are proud creatures and demand only the very best and unsullied women; common dragons aren't so picky." The corner of her mouth twitched up slightly as she finished with absolute confidence. "Trust me."

Rachel almost growled at her too, realizing how she must've discovered that fact. But to do that to any woman, and especially to someone like Taloni...

She shook her head.

Not Taloni.

There was literally no one on earth who deserved a fate like that less than the wonderful Fey girl. Speaking of, she had shrunk back and was now hiding behind Ethan.

"You wouldn't." Kendra said after a moment.

"Rachel, tell her." Lady Ekthros said while smirking at the dragon huntress.

"She would." Rachel admitted after a moment. "She's ruthless and I wouldn't put it past her."

"What do you want then?" Kendra said, clearly trying to play it cool, but fooling no one. She looked almost as angry as Ethan, if that were possible.

"I want you to have a little reminder of what happens when you cross me." She smiled and looked at Ethan. "You'll play a part in this too, and together hopefully you'll make each other miserable for the rest of your lives."

Rachel closed her eyes, having figured out what she was planning. It wasn't right; it wasn't fair. She felt like her heart couldn't take this; not so soon after what happened between her and Ethan the previous night. And what Lady Ekthros' plan would assuredly do to Kendra herself... It just wasn't right. It was a whole other level of vengeance; a whole other level of evil. She was shocked, but somehow wasn't surprised.

"What in Saidow's Lair do you want?" Kendra spat.

Lady Ekthros knelt down, glanced at Ethan, and then grinned wickedly at Kendra. "Bond to the dragon."

TO BE CONTINUED...

***Rachel's finally in the fold! ^_^ I thought we would get here a few chapters ago, but her storyline dragged a bit since I mis-timed how long it would take. Sorry about that. About the side-story; it sounds like most people want it, but a majority don't want to slow down ADT for it. I'll back-burner it for now. BTW, I don't mind some reluctance, but I have zero interest in writing actual rape stories. None whatsoever. It will have some reluctance, but definitely no "non-consent".***

Fun world-building fact: I didn't make up what Illuminar said about hell. If you do some research on "universal restoration vs hell", you'll find that the idea of eternal torment in hell didn't come until hundreds of years later. Irony right?***

EDIT: I added a small section to the Illuminar conversation to make it clear that Illuminar does not violate free will. I didn't realize it would sound like he does, but he definitely doesn't.

STORY TAGS: dragon, magic, medieval, elf, teen, romance, virgin, harem, cuckquean