A Dragon's Tale Ch. 31

The dragon -- not necessarily Ethan -- but the dragon looked disappointed in her.

For some reason, that stung.

It really stung.

When they finished, Ethan seemed to come to himself a bit. "Wow, you're improving really fast. It took me weeks to get to the level you're at."

"Thanks." She replied, trying to sound cheerful even though she wasn't.

Eventually, Ethan wandered away to say good morning to Rachel and Alana after they emerged from the captain's cabin. Both women were looking incredibly happy and were almost glowing, and both greeted their husband with a kiss. They then started working on making his new suit of dragon skin armor with Serif.

Selene mostly watched or sparred with Raklan when she could, but her heart wasn't in it. Ethan had been genuine in his praise, but she still felt like she had been schooled like a white belt sparing against a grand master.

Oddly, that made her loins itch a bit too.

* * *

Sarah leaned down to look at her newest herb plant, glad to see her prune from earlier in the week had helped it. It was still growing beautifully, but at a slower and healthier pace.

She smiled.

Satisfied that her plants were all doing well, she stood and started walking back towards the inn. As she did so, her mind went back to her dream with Gabriella. The angel's promise that 'everything will be okay in the end; if it's not okay, it's not the end' had been very comforting. Her other promise that Sarah would help 'bring great good' and get a wonderful husband in the process almost seemed too good to be true.

She couldn't help but wonder if maybe it had just been a normal dream.

She looked up to the sky. "Dear Illuminar -- blessed be you -- thank you for the dream. Um, I really want it to have been a real dream, a dream from you I mean. So please make it so it was." She finished, then looked up again. "And please make me good."

She got back to the inn and walked into the kitchen. The stew she'd started earlier was still slowly cooking over the bed of coals she'd made. She picked up the poker to rearrange the coals and felt her shoulders slump when she realized it was the same poker that she'd bent the day Selene had started working at the inn.

She really missed her friend.

Not long after, she heard the front door open, which was odd since travelers usually didn't enter until late afternoon or evening and it was still mid-morning.

"Hello and welcome." She said as she left the kitchen and entered the main room.

The man jumped slightly.

He was probably around sixty and looked like he had lived a hard life. His right leg appeared to end at the knee because he had a pegged leg poking out the bottom of his rough pants. His face was weather-beaten and his skin was closer to leather than most. He had a scraggly stubble of a grey beard, which matched his grey hair.

The man's face went a little pale when he saw her, but he didn't move.

"Can I help you?" She asked, all too familiar with the reason for his fear. To be honest, she was a little scared of her problem too.

He regarded her for a moment. "Is this..." He looked around. "Was the dragon really here?"

"No." She shook her head. "But two of his wives were, about four days ago."

He nodded, apparently considering. "Is he likely comin' back?"

"I hope so." She replied. "My friend Selene went with them and she promised to come back for my wedding if she could."

The man nodded again, then narrowed his eyes and looked at her carefully.

"You're the girl, ain't you?" He said suspiciously. "The one that's got all them priests and travelers scared."

She swallowed hard and then nodded, not able to meet his eye.

"Is it true what they is saying about you?"

She nodded mutely.

"Hmm. you don't look like you've got a... well, a 'you know what' hangin' onto you."

"I try to serve Illuminar and my... my problem comes and goes." She replied, surprised that he had said that much her problem. People stopped doing that a year or two after her problem surfaced. It seemed they were worried they might 'catch' her problem if they spoke of it. He seemed like he was from far away though, so perhaps that was why?

He made a thoughtful sound. "Do you know what makes it come?"

"When I'm scared." She replied.

This was one of the strangest conversations that she'd ever had, and certainly the longest conversation she'd ever had about her problem since her father had taken her to all those priests. It was also the longest conversation she'd had with about her problem with any visitor. They usually stayed far away from her and didn't ask when they knew.

"So as long as I don't go scaring you, you gonna stay you?"

She nodded.

"And you think the dragon might be back?"

"I hope so." She replied honestly. "My friend is really nice and I know she wouldn't lie to me. She said she'd try to come back. She traveling with him now, so..."

The man considered her for several long moments. He made a thoughtful grunting sound and stroked the stubble on his chin, then nodded. "Okay, then I'd like a bed for as long as it takes until he comes back, or your friend does."

"Why do you need to talk to the dragon?" Sarah asked.

"I'm from down southeast near the mountains; things is getting bad down there."

The girl gasped and covered her mouth. She glanced at his pegged leg and she could feel her skin getting clamy and cold. There was only one thing in the mountains that would give a man a pegged leg and yet he could live to tell the tale. They were the villains of every horror story in Ivernia, more than a few cautionary tales, and some of the darker nursery rhymes. Some of those stories were so scary her parents had refused to tell them to her until she was older.

If they were getting out of hand, that didn't bode well.

"Orcs?" She whispered.

He nodded.

* * *

"You know it's weird." Ethan said as he watched the land of Ivernia slowly fade into the distance as they crossed over into the land of the wood elves again. They'd taken a break from working on his armor, and since they were about to pass out of Ivernia, they had decided to take that break on the quarterdeck to watch the verdant countryside fade into the distance. "I've spent so little time there, but something about it just feels..."

"Like home?" Alana offered.

"Yeah." He turned towards her, leaning on the rear railing of the Argo's quarterdeck with all four of his wives beside him. "Anyone else feel like that?"

"Um, not quite like that Dominus." Beth replied. "But it's really pretty country and I like it. We were only there a few days, but... I don't know. I feel very comfortable in Ivernia."

"I agree master." Taloni's wings fluttered.

"Yeah I agree to. It's a shame about Lord Farbrottan though." Rachel added. "Never has a prettier country had a more unfortunate lord."

"Oh?" He asked.

"Yes my lord." She replied, then paused. "It's really weird now natural that feels now; calling you 'my lord' I mean."

"It's weird hearing you say it, but... I don't know; I kind of like it too."

"Me too my lord." The redhead replied with a half embarrassed smile.

"So, Lord Farbrottan isn't such a good guy?" He asked.

She shook her head. "He's a petty tyrant. Keeps the land in an iron grip and punishes any dissent or criticism harshly."

He looked back out over the beautiful countryside. "Shame, something about Ivernia just feels..." He looked at Alana. "Yeah, like home."

She sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Yeah."

*Master, I think Selene wants to say something.* Taloni thought to him. *She's standing near the stairs looking a little unsure of herself.*

Ethan took a last look at the Ivernian landscape, then turned towards the Brazilian woman. "Something up?"

"Yeah. I wanted to talk to you about two things. First, -- given how taken you are with Ivernia -- I thought you might want to do something about Smithbond and him establishing a base here with the portal."

"Yeah. We should talk about that; we'll finish the armor later." He groaned, though not at her. "What was the second thing?"

"It's related: I'd like to go home, if possible." She replied.

"Okay, let's sit down and talk about it." He said, not really wanting to add another thing to his plate, but recognizing that it was past time to start thinking about that particular situation.

* * *

Selene listened as Ethan summarized what they'd discussed on the topic for the last few minutes.

"So, Smithbond is working with Gonorran, they have a portal and are setting up a base here, and just destroying the portal isn't enough because Gonorran could create a new one."

"That's about the size of it." The Brazilian woman nodded, then looked at Rachel. "I'm assuming that he could create a new portal."

"That's a safe bet." The redhead replied. "He created the one that we used, and he's a necromancer so mana isn't a problem even on Earth."

"So that begs the question; how do we destroy the portal and--" Alana paused. "Hmm. What do we do about Gonorran?"

Everyone looked at Ethan.

He looked pensive for several seconds. "My dragon side thinks he'd be better six feet under, and I'm not sure I'd disagree."

"Wait, did you saysix feet under?" Beth asked.

Selene nodded. "Yeah, that's how deep we bury the dead."

"Oh; we do seven feet here, because seven is the number of Illuminar."

"It is?" Ethan and Selene said at the same time.

Alana chuckled.

"Master, did you notice that the temple of Illuminar has a seven pointed star on it? And so do the stars on a Luminar's robes?"

"Not really." He replied. "I obviously noticed the star, but wasn't really counting the points."

"Anyway, I'm inclined to agree with the dragon." Rachel interjected. "Gonorran has killed a lot of people, kidnapped a lot of people, and I'm not sure there's anything else we can do to ensure that he doesn't start sending men from Ethan's world here."

"We could capture him bring him back here." Beth suggested.

"Yeah, but then he'd be a problem here." Ethan countered. "I'm all about giving a person a fair trial, but something tells me he'd end up killing one of us before we hauled him before a court here."

"He's pretty dangerous." Alana agreed.

The ex-FBI agent frowned. "You do realize that you're talking about murder, right?" She was rather surprised by their casual flippancy on the topic. It bothered her, especially considering her former chosen career.

"You weren't there." Rachel said quietly. "He casually suggested murdering children."

"Plus he's a necromancer." Taloni said. "The Book of Light says that all necromancers shall be put to death."

"Well that's not right." Selene exclaimed.

"Anthiel, could you come down here for a minute?" Ethan called to the high elf, who was on the quarterdeck near the ship's wheel as usual.

"Yes captain?" She asked when she arrived.

"Could you please tell Selene the same story you told me about what happens when someone turns to necromancy."

The high elf nodded. "I once knew a fellow who turned to dark mana to save his village from an attack. He was a kind, caring soul too; a truly good man who only wanted to help people, He used it used it out of desperation, but it thoroughly corrupted him even though his intentions were originally good."

"What happened to him?" Selene asked.

"He went on a rampage and killed a dozen men before he was killed by the guards."

Rachel nodded. "No self-respecting mage who cares about others would even consider using it; the corruptive effects are too strong. In the entire history of the Ten Kingdoms, there's not one soul who used dark mana who didn't turn evil."

"Dark mana?" Selene asked.

"Mana pulled from something that has just died." Alana explained. "It's negatively charged, unlike all other mana, which is positively charged. It erodes the soul."

"That's the definition of necromancer; a mage who uses dark mana." Rachel added. "Though they usually end up delving into the area of magic with -- confusingly enough -- is called necromancy, which involves reanimating the corpses of people or animals."

"And this guy uses dark mana?" Selene asked.

"Liberally." Ethan replied. "He murdered one of his own men to power the portal. He's ruthless."

Hmm.

Selene pondered that for a few moments. She suddenly wasn't as opposed to ending him, but still thought he deserved a fair trial. The presumption of innocence was the bedrock of justice and she certainly thought that everyone -- even terrible people -- deserved a fair trial.

"Regardless of if he needs to die or be captured, how would we get to him?" She finally said. "He's deep in the bunker."

"Through the portal?" Beth suggested. "We could wait until he opens it and go through."

"Wouldn't work." Selene shook her head. "I'm virtually positive they'll have the portal room heavily guarded. Even if you subdued the camp outside, they'd shoot you on sight if you entered the base."

"Well, there is one person they probably wouldn't shoot on sight." Ethan looked at her pointedly.

"Yeah, I know." Selene sighed.

"It gets worse though." He continued. "Have you thought about what'll happen if you destroy the portal and deal with Gonorran? How Smithbond will respond?"

"They won't be happy; I know that." Selene admitted. "I've been hoping that I could get back to Earth and my life there, but with the portal and Gonorran..." She shook her head. "...I'm not sure that's realistic now."

Ethan shook his head. "No, they'd just keep forcing you to work for them if they didn't outright kill you."

"I hate that you're right." She sighed.

"Selene, I think your life on Earth might be kind of over." Rachel said gently. "If half of what Ethan has said about his world and their governments is true, you'll never be a free woman again. Not on Earth anyway."

The ex-FBI agent felt her shoulder slump.

They were right.

"So I'm not really going home." Selene said glumly. "I'm going on a one-way mission to assassinate a necromancer and destroy a portal." She looked around at them. "I suppose that's not the worst way to go."

"It doesn't have to be one-way." Alana pointed out. "We could open our portal so you could come back once you were done."

"But how would you know when I'm done?" Selene countered. "We're talking intergalactic distances here. There's literally no way to communicate that far."

Ethan and all his wives looked at each other and then back at her.

"I wouldn't say there'sno way..." Rachel said.

"What do you--" Selene started to say, then realized. "Oh, yeah I forgot about that."

Several of Ethan's wives looked at him, and the caramel-haired woman was beginning to recognize the signs of a telepathic conversation happening.

"No, I'm not interested." He said aloud after a few seconds, then turned to her. "No offense, but I already have four wives -- maybe five if you count Kendra -- and I really don't need another one."

She didn't take offense, but that comment stung.

It stung a lot.

She hoped that she wasn't being terribly self-absorbed to think this, but she simply couldn't understand why he was so adamant about not being interested in her. It would make sense if their personalities didn't click, but they seemed to get along well enough. Also, he already had four wives and she certainly didn'twant his attention. But she was a bit confused why he had zero interest.

Maybe less than zero interest judging by his comment.

Everyone seemed to think that she was pleasant enough, and she was certainly attractive. Plus she was a smart, capable woman who managed to earn her masters by twenty two and been accepted as an FBI agent and passed the academy by twenty three. She'd achieved that through hard work and never giving up, so there couldn't be anything wrong with her, could there?

She was shaken out of her reverie when Taloni spoke up.

"You're right about wives master, you don't need anotherone wife." The Fey teen said with a mischievous smile. "You need anothertwo wives."

"Don't remind me." He groaned, then looked around at everyone. "So any other ideas on how to get Selene back here?" Taloni opened her mouth, but he was faster. "Obviously setting that idea aside, because I'm sure it doesn't appeal to Selene either."

She suppressed a wince.

Ouch.

Not only did she not appeal to him; he wassure that she didn't appeal to him.

That really stung.

"One of us could go with her so we could talk to you." Rachel suggested to Ethan. "But it would have to be me or Beth; Alana and especially Taloni certainly couldn't go."

"That's a bad idea." Selene said. "If they even suspect they have a Ten Kingdoms native on planet, they'll stop at nothing to find her. If she was caught, she'd never see the light of day again."

"Here that girls, you're staying here." Ethan said firmly.

"Yes Dominus."

"Yes my lord."

He looked back at Selene. "Hmm, well we'll have to come up with something. We've got some time though. I don't imagine they can do too much too fast; it is a government operation after all."

"True." Selene admitted.

"Let's stew on it for a little while and see what we can all come up with." He said, and everyone nodded in agreement.

The drop-dead gorgeous woman's mind checked out almost immediately after he said that. She had never met a straight man who didn't show at least a passing interest in her. He had clearly stated that he wasn't interested and she couldn't figure out what was so wrong with her that he 'was sure she didn't appeal.' It couldn't be her looks; she was sure of that, so it had to be something else. She'd often gotten compliments on how nice she was thanks to her father's insistence on good manners, so she didn't think it was her personality.

Maybe it was her smarts?

Maybe he was a sapiosexual fellow who only liked smart women? She thought she'd qualify, but a nagging voice of doubt in the back of her mind started question that assertion. Virtually all of her college professors had been men, and her marks had actually been lower from the few female professors she'd had. Maybe she really hadn't gotten where she was on hard work and grit. People had told her all her life that doors just opened for her because of her looks.

Could they be right?

Was she really just a pretty face?

She shook her head; 'Selene, get ahold of yourself.' She said to herself. Of course she was a smart, competent, savvy woman. She must be, to have gotten where she was at such a young age...

Right?

* * *

"Okay, all done. Try it now."

Ethan nodded at his first wife, who had just finished enchanting the first piece of test armor. He finished enchanting two spots on his right forearm that exactly corresponded with the twin spots Alana had just finished enchanting on a non-dragon leather test piece. There was just enough room in the regular leather for a summoning enchantments and a sticking enchantment, but no room for anything else. That was despite the fact that it was apparently very high quality enchanting leather. No matter, it was only for testing anyway and didn't need to work like armor.

Ethan took a deep breath, raised his arm, and tried to summon the piece of leather.

It didn't move.

Alana chuckled. "You forgot it needs some of your deep mana to finish the enchantment."

"Right." He chuckled at himself, being so used to his hammer obeying his thoughts that he'd forgotten that step. He walked over to the piece, pushed a tiny drop of deep mana into it, and then took a few steps back.

"Okay, second time's the charm." He took another deep breath, then tried to summon the armor test piece.

It shot onto his arm.

Fast.

It moved far faster than his hammer or spear had ever done, which he guessed was down to the lighter weight of the leather. Then he activated the sticking enchantment on both his arm and the leather.