A Dragon's Tale Ch. 31

"So actually, I have..." Ethan started to say, but then paused. Selene recognized the telltale signs of a telepathic conversation before he spoke again. "I have been honored by your presence, and I'm honored to receive your presents."

All his wives groaned.

Navaro chuckled.

The King and Halvaer looked amused, but didn't laugh.

"Come, I shall personally escort you to the armories where you will be fitted for the finest sword, shield, and armor in the kingdom." The King said.

"Ooo." Selene breathed; what she wouldn't give to see that! She loved the hand-to-hand combat, but martial arts weapons had fascinated since she was little.

The king turned to her and gave her a respectful nod of the head. "Any friend of the dragon is a friend of mine, and any friend of mine is welcome in the royal armories.

"Thank you." She beamed, then added hastily. "Your highness."

He gave her a respectful nod of the head, then turned to leave. He hadn't made it three steps before he stopped again. He cocked his head to one side and then turned to Ethan. "Honored dragon, the armories are outside of the palace and as such,no one who accompanies us will be denied access."

Ethan looked at him for a moment before raising one eyebrow, then glancing toward his wives.

The king gave a barely perceptible nod of his head.

Ethan broke into a wide smile and turned to them. "Ladies, how about a field trip?"

They all stared at him looking confused.

"Honored dragon, the armories aren't located in a field." The King said.

Selene and Ethan laughed before the latter spoke. "It's a figure of speech. I mean to invite my wives to join us."

All of them beamed.

It was somewhat amusing to see the dignitaries making an effort to stay close to The King while also trying to stay far away from Alana, Taloni, and Rachel. The Brazilian woman had a perpetual grin as she watched them jockeying for a more favorable position the entire trip. Mostly the girls stayed quiet or talked amongst themselves while Ethan and the King spoke on the route. It was easy to see that each enjoyed the other's company somewhat, especially The King. He didn't seem so straight-laced and rigid as she had been expecting.

As it turned out, the royal armories were right next to the palace.

The entrance was guarded and the King dismissed all but the Argo's crew when they arrived. Many of the dignitaries quickly escaped the association with the shamed women, though Navaro was the last to go and he surreptitiously gave Alana a smile as he did so. This didn't escape Halvaer's notice, though the older elf seemed more intrigued by it than upset.

The armories themselves were impressive.

Once inside, the king led them through several ornate halls to the main weapons storage. The room was incredibly large; as large as a small supermarket. There were rows and rows of weapons of every type imaginable. There were spears, and halberds, and glaves, and billhooks, partizans, pole-axes, and many more weapons that she didn't recognize. There were also an enormous variety of swords, enough chainmail that there was probably millions of rings, and several bits of plate armor.

"Wow." Ethan breathed as he looked around at the rows of weapons. Then he grinned and looked at Selene, then said in a passable imitation of Keanu Reaves: "Swords; lots of swords."

She chuckled.

"It's something from my world." He explained at everyone else's confused looks.

Selene let out a low whistle as she looked at all the swords. Every single one of them was both beautiful in form and deadly looking in function. She could definitely see the wood elven design aesthetic, though they still looked like traditional medieval blades in overall form.

"Honored dragon, you and your wives may each choose a weapon of your choice, or the armorers can fit them to each of you."

"I vote on being fitted by the armorers." Ethan said, and his wives all nodded.

"I shall summon them." The king said. "You shall not be disappointed."

* * *

Sarah set a small lunch out for the inn's visitor. He had been remarkably quite for his stay so far, pegged-leg while he walked notwithstanding.

"Thank you kindly." He said nodding at her. He took a bite. "Mmm, you is a good cook."

"Thank you." She smiled.

She especially liked that he didn't seem scared of her much anymore. He'd quickly stopped being jumpy around her and regarded her much like any regular person would regard any other regular person.

It was nice.

"So, you mentioned it was getting bad with the orcs." She said tentatively. "How bad?"

"Bad." He said after he swallowed. "Lord Kalus occasionally sends a detachment to help, but Lord Farbrottan doesn't much like other lord's soldiers on his lands, so he does it on the sly. Anyway, Kalus' troops help, but since our fuckin' lord won't do shit, we is getting killed and them orcs is just getting bolder."

"I'm sorry." Sarah said as her face fell. "I do hope the dragon can help."

"Yeah, me too. I'm sick of losing my friends and my friends' sons to them animals." He grimaced.

"I thought orcs were intelligent?" Sarah replied.

He grunted. "Yeah, the big ones -- orcs -- can even speak and make weapons and such. But them little ones -- goblins -- they ain't got nothing going for them except hunger."

"I'm so sorry." The girl said, feeling her heart break for him and those he knew. She couldn't even imagine what that would be like, nor did she want to.

He gave her a strange look. "You've had a hard life, haven't ya?"

She nodded slowly. "How'd you know?"

"None is more compassionate than them who've been deeply hurt; unless they go the other way and become raving lunatics that is."

Sarah averted her eyes.

"Oh don't go being upset; I meant you're the former not the latter."

She gave him a half smile and then retreated to the kitchen. She liked the old man; he was kind to her and didn't flinch when he saw her anymore. However, there was no denying that everyone else saw her the latter way. Well, not everyone. A faint smile appeared on her face as she remembered Selene and then the dream with Gabriella.

She had hope.

For as long as she could remember, she didn't think life could get better for her. Now she did. She couldn't describe how wonderful that was. All she needed to do was hold on until what the angel had promised happened.

* * *

"Dude; likedude." Ethan said as he hefted the elven kite shield that was now strapped to his arm. It was made of several layers of thin-ish leather and quite large, being about four feet tall and nearly two feet wide. It was almond shaped and as light as a feather. Seriously, he doubted that it weighed half a pound. It must've been enchanted to achieve the weight.

"How strong are these?" He asked as he hefted it around easily, finding it hard to believe that something so light could offer much protection. Though, he could tell it had significant mass even though the weight was magically reduced.

"Honored dragon, it would protect you from a volley of orcish archers." One of the armorers said proudly.

"Seriously?" Beth's eyes went wide. "A leather shield that can stop an orcish warbow?"

"You can't be serious." Rachel added.

"We are honored lady." The armorer said proudly to Beth.

"Um, what's so special about an orcish warbow?" Selene asked, and Ethan was glad that she asked so he didn't have to.

Everyone stared at the Brazilian beauty.

"I keep forgetting you're not from this world." Beth said with a smile. "Typical warbows for humans, elves, and most other races are in the 100 to 125 pound range, though some get up to 150. Aweak orcish warbow starts at about 150 pounds, and 200 pounds is more normal."

"A 200 pound bow?" Selene's jaw dropped. "How strong are they?"

"Very." Beth replied. "And they tend to be taller than men too."

"Yeah, and orcish arrows are about three-quarters of an inch in diameter and quite heavy." Alana explained. "Think about a three-quarter inch arrow with a steel head coming off a 200 pound warbow; now imagine how hard that would hit.

"Ouch." Ethan winced, then looked at the shield in his hand. "And this can stop it?"

"It can indeed honored dragon." The elven armorer said proudly. "And if it can stop that..."

Ethan grinned. "I'd imagine that there's not much that it can't stop."

"Dragon fire?" Beth suggested.

"Not so, honored wife of the honored dragon." The armorer corrected. "The outermost layer is skived dragon-leather, enchanted to be even more flame resistant than dragon leather is naturally; it will stop dragon's breath."

"Damn, it would've been nice to have this when we fought Kyrupto, or Havorleth." Ethan said grinning ear to ear as he looked at the paper-thin outer layer.

The shield was primarily made from three thin-ish layers of leather, though there was a fourth layer that was near paper-thin on the outside face. Seriously, it was impressively thin; literally almost paper thin. He couldn't imagine how much time and skill it took to slice leather than thin. With as thin as it was, he could imagine getting ten or twenty layers that thick -- maybe more -- from a single piece of dragon leather.

Damn, it was a nice shield.

"Honored dragon, I offer eight of these shields to you -- one for you and one for each of your wives, present and future -- as recompense for the assault upon you in my city while under my protection."

"I'm honored." Ethan replied, and he meant it. Suddenly, he was very glad the total number of his future wives had come up on the walk here.

The King gave him an acknowledging nod of the head and a smile. If Ethan didn't know better, he would've said the King might've given him all these things anyway.

"And you haven't seen our swords or armor yet." The King said with a smile.

If the shields were impressive, the swords were no less so.

Not one bit.

"Wow." Beth breathed.

"Holy shit!" Selene looked like a kid on Christmas morning.

Ethan looked at the free-hanging bit of parchment which had just been cleanly cut by a single light stroke of the elven steel blade. The bit of paper was as thin as newsprint, and was only held by two tiny bits of thread at the corners, yet had barely moved when the elven armorer had cut it. The cut was perfectly clean too.

"The blades are enchanted to be self-repairing honored dragon, so it will always be this sharp." The armorer said. "Should you strike it against steel or stone, the edge will return to this sharp in short order. Also, it will never rust. There is no room in the elven steel for another enchantment, but why would you need another?"

"That's brilliant." He replied, thinking that since self-repair worked with clothes and leather, why not with elven steel?

The blades themselves were typical arming sword size, being double-edged, one-handed swords about three feet in overall length. The blades were wide enough for an effective cut most of the way up, and then tapered to a wicked looking point. The cross guards were fairly simple, had a gentle curve towards the tip, and were etched with subtle intricate patterns. The disc-shaped pommels were likewise simple but elegant.

"These are amazing." Selene breathed as she carefully waved one around experimentally.

"Hear, hear." Ethan agreed.

"And our chainmail is also enchanted to be self-repairing." The armorer said, pulling up a chainmail hauberk. The hauberk had long sleeves and hung down to about knee length. The area below the waist had a split in the center -- both back and front -- so you could move properly.

It looked like any other chainmail that Ethan had seen, with riveted rings interlocking in a 4-in1 pattern. However, there were thin strips of leather woven into the chainmail in intricate, graceful patterns. It was very elven looking, and there was no doubting the artistry.

"The leather is enchanted to be self-repairing, and more importantly to have negative weight." The armorer continued. "So just like an airship's ballast logs, it makes the chainmail feel quite light."

Ethan took the offered chainmail and it did indeed feel quite light.

"That's really smart." Rachel said approvingly. "A full suit of chainmail can weigh forty or fifty pounds, so lightening it is a good thing."

"These weigh only ten to fifteen pounds depending on the size." The armorer said proudly.

*Ethan, you wouldn't be able to use your wings if you were wearing chainmail.* Rachel thought to everyone.

*Neither would I.* Taloni added. *But it is pretty; I like the leather."

*True.* He agreed. *But maybe we could cannibalize bits of the chainmail and add it to my armor?*

*Doubtful.* Alana replied. *If the rings are self-repairing, it would take an insane amount of work to take it apart and reassemble it. By the time you've split two rings in a clean way, the first ring you broke would've already started to repair.* She paused for a moment. *Though, we could disenchant a row of rings to take it apart and use the removed portion.*

*I like that idea.* He was thinking of all the gaps that his armor would have. None were large and he was pretty well protected from cuts, but there was definitely room for improvement.

"Is there a problem honored dragon?" The armorer asked.

"Huh? No, why?"

Selene shook her head. "No, no problem. He was just talking telepathically with his wives."

"About how amazing these weapons and armor are." Ethan added. "I'll feel a lot better knowing my wives are protected."

"And there'll be a lot of them." The caramel-haired beauty said rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, the bed on the Argo is already getting crowded." Alana said, then went beet red.

"I could assist there honored dragon." The King said. "It would take only a morning for our artisans to craft and install the finest bed that you have ever slept on, in a size to fit all your wives; both present and future. I shall send them to your ship in the morning after you rise."

Ethan and the girls all looked at each other before he spoke with a huge smile. "Yes please!"

* * *

"Copper for your thoughts?"

Rachel turned to see her lovely best friend had come up beside her in the armory. The redhead had been looking at all the weapons, but didn't really see anything that fit her properly.

"Magic." The redhead replied. "I can definitely see a shield being useful for protection, and a sword as a backup, but I can't hold a sword and effectively wield magic at the same time."

"Hmm, good point." Alana nodded. "An arming sword would make a great backup, but not a good primary weapon for you."

"Yeah, I wonder if they have magical staves here." Rachel mused.

Alana shrugged, then thought to the group. *Ethan, could you ask about a magical staff instead of a sword for Rachel? We'd ask, but... you know.*

*Right. Yeah I'll ask.* He replied with a touch of annoyance in his tone. Not at them, but at the customs that made his asking necessary.

Rachel gave her a halfhearted smile. "We shamed women have to stick together."

"I could never believe that anything about you was shameful." The wood elf replied sincerely. There was a moment's pause and then her cheeks turned a bit pink.

"Thank you." The redhead felt her heart flutter slightly and she had the strangest impulse to give the lovely elf a peck on the cheek as additional thanks.

That was weird.

Well, notthat weird, right?

It was normal for best friends to kiss each other right? Not on the lips of course. She hadn't really been thinking about kissing Alana's soft, full lips. She'd been thinking about kissing her cheek. She had beautiful cheeks and they probably tasted--

She stopped, pushing that thought far from her mind. There was no reason to speculate about how good Alana's skin might taste, and even less reason to wonder how her lips tasted. She thought that they must taste good though. How could they not, with the rest of her being so delightful?

Alana chuckled. "You get lost in your head so easily."

"That's fair." She nodded, not mentioning the first thought which had come to her mind, which oddly was a wish that the lovely wood elf would be there with her.

She wasn't sure why.

"How's this?" Ethan asked a few minutes later as he walked up to her. He had a smile on his face that was some combination of mischievous, knowing, and anticipatory.

He held a staff out for her that was about five feet long and just slightly tapered. Around the top and bottom was a small steel band held in place with a single steel pin. The staff itself was nearly unadorned, but the moment Rachel touch it, something about it felt... good. Something about the staff reminded her of her best friend, though she didn't know why.

Alana gasped and put her hand over her mouth. "That's one of mine, isn't it?"

Ethan nodded, his smile getting wider. "Yup. It seems they had one left that hadn't been already enchanted."

Rachel felt her mouth curve into a broad smile as she remembered that Alana had previously grow staves for enchanting. That had been her living, and her adopted family's staves were renowned throughout the Ten Kingdoms for their quality. It made perfect sense for the royal armies to have a few, she just never thought she'd be holding one of them.

"May I?" Alana asked.

The redhead handed it over and the wood elf closed her eyes as she ran her hands along the wood. "I remember this one, it was one of my best." She smiled as she handed it back. "I'm glad you'll have it."

"Me too, but you'll have to enchant it; I'm rubbish at enchanting." The redhead admitted.

"I'd love to." Alana smiled. "Standard self-healing throughout, hardened outside, and mana storage core?"

"That would be perfect." Rachel beamed.

"Wait, mana storage core?" Ethan asked.

Alana nodded. "Yeah. You can enchant wood to act as a reservoir of additional mana. You need to fill it, but once filled it can hold extra mana so she can cast spells longer in a fight. Plus, you can channel spells through a staff that's been enchanted to hold mana."

"Basically, I can have the shield in one hand and the staff in the other and still use spells." Rachel explained.

Ethan grinned with a twinkle in his eye. "That's going to be hot."

"Mmm." She replied, looking forward to--

"My lord the king!" Delabor the herald said as he entered.

"Approach Delabor." The king replied.

"I beg your pardon, but may I convey a message from the honorable Halvaer Kalon to the honorable dragon?"

The herald turned to Ethan after the King nodded. "Honored dragon, the honorable head of the House Kalon says that you and your first wife might meet her mother tomorrow at midday when she arrives by airship."

"Thank you. We'll be there if someone can guide us." Ethan replied.

"Delabor can guide you." The King offered.

"Thank you." Ethan replied, then turned to his wood elven wife. "You're going to meet your mother tomorrow."

Alana nodded mutely as she swallowed hard.

"You okay?" Rachel whispered.

The wood elf turned towards her, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "I think so? I hope she likes me."

"I can't imagine anyone not liking you." Rachel offered, then felt her cheeks get a bit warm as she realized how that sounded. Thankfully, her comment seemed to have gone unnoticed.

"Judging from what your father said when you met him, she'll be overjoyed to see you." Ethan added.

The wood elf nodded and took another deep breath. "We'll find out tomorrow."

* * *

TO BE CONTINUED...

***There will be a slight change of the publishing schedule, though not the frequency; I'm still doing one chapter a month. Currently I submit on Wednesdays so the chapter usually lands on the last Friday or Saturday of the month. I'm instead going to start submitting on the first Wednesday of the month. To make the transition easier, I'll submit the next chapter on the last Wednesday of March, so it will probably drop on April 1st or 2nd. (and no, this isn't an April Fool's joke.) The next chapter will be submitted on May 4th, then the first Wednesday thereafter. Wednesday submissions usually go live on Friday or Saturday after the review process. If a chapter is late, you can check my profile and I'll have a reason and expected publishing date.***