A Dragon's Tale Ch. 33

He sighed heavily and sat down at the nearest table. With any luck, Selene would be the next person to walk through the door and he could escape without interacting with anyone. He couldn't get over how prominent his dragon side was becoming, and he needed a solution that didn't involve bedding Kendra, and soon.

Like, now.

He turned his mind towards Taloni and checked their bond. The delightful Fey girl seemed happy, but it was a more subdued sort of happy. She was normally exuberant, but seemed slightly less so right now. He considered talking to her to try and clear things up, but had no idea what he would say.

None at all.

He knew that she wouldn't hold it against him; she was too wonderful, caring, and loving for that. He knew she would forgive him, and probably already had, but that wasn't the point. She shouldn't need to forgive him; he should never have put her in that position in the first--

"Excuse me?" A feminine voice said from nearby, shaking him out of his reverie.

He turned to see a girl that was about an inch taller than Beth's, making her about 5' 4". She had brown hair that looked healthy enough, but not vibrant. Her clothes were clean, but well worn. She was very average in terms of attractiveness, though her brown eyes looked caring.

He got a good vibe off of her.

The dragon didn't.

His dragon side seemed to bristle at her presence. Well, not quite her presence. Something about her clearly bothered his dragon instincts; something that he couldn't sense or even discern. He had no idea what it was, but his dragon didn't like it all. He had the sudden impulse to flee, and his dragon side had never wanted to flee from another living being before.

Ever.

Not even when he had nearly died fighting Kyrupto.

"Can I help you with something?" The girl asked. She wasn't being rude either; she was genuinely asking if he needed help with anything.

"Nah, I'm just meeting someone here." He replied.

"Oh." She looked confused, like that was strange or unusual. She looked at him for another moment or two and then cocked her head slightly to one side. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He lied.

She looked at him for another moment. "I don't mean to pry, and I'll go away if I'm wrong, but are you sure? You don't look okay. You look..." She cocked her head to the other side and got a look of deepest sympathy on her face. "...you look sad."

He sighed.

"Yeah, well..." He looked at her and shook his head. "I snapped at my wife earlier and I feel like shit for it." He admitted. "It's not the first time either."

Her face fell and for some reason he could tell that she really, truly, and genuinely felt sorry for him. "I'm sorry. Is she okay?"

"I think so." He shook his head. "I apologized and she forgave me." He gave the girl a half-hearted smile. "She's good that way, but I still feel like shit."

The girl smiled. "It's good that you care about her enough to say something right away. I'll bet she appreciated that."

"I hope so."

There was a brief pause before the girl gave him another look of utter sincerity. "I realize that I can't help much, but could I pray for you?"

Ethan felt his throat get slightly tight at her offer. He didn't really believe in prayer, but judging by her tone this girl certainly did. Having met Illuminar, he supposed it couldn't hurt if someone occasionally prayed for him. It probably wouldn't do anything, but it couldn't hurt.

"Sure." He shrugged.

He had been expecting that she would just pray for him whenever she usually prayed, but instead she sat down in a chair near him, reached out her hand, rested it on his arm, and bowed her head. "Dear Illuminar -- blessed be You -- please help this man and his wife. Please heal his tendency to snap and let his wife know that he really cares about her, and help them to have a wonderful marriage. Amen."

She lifted her head and opened her eyes. "There, I hope that will help."

"I appreciate it." He replied, again nearly getting choked up. Again, he didn't think that prayer mattered, but she obviously did. Her prayer had been incredibly genuine and heartfelt too. His dragon side was bristling at her presence, but he smiled at her.

"Thank you." He repeated. "I can't always control my actions, and it can be so incredibly hard when you want so desperately to do one thing, but end up doing another."

The girl swallowed and blinked her eyes a few times, not quite meeting his eyes. "Yeah." Her voice cracked slightly. "Yeah that's really hard."

She swallowed hard.

He knew -- he wasn't sure how he knew, but he knew -- that this girl was speaking from experience. Something about the way she said it; perhaps the tilt of her head, or perhaps the slight crack of her voice, or the way that she couldn't quite meet his eye.

She knew what it was like.

"Hey, it's okay." He said gently.

She gave him a slightly pained smile. "Sometimes it is."

"You know, our problems don't have to define us." He said kindly.

"What?" The girl didn't appear to understand his meaning.

"We can't always control ourselves, as much as we'd like to." He explained. "And while I lost my temper, that's not all of who I am. I'm more than just a guy with a temper. I'm more than someone who snaps at my wife. My wives constantly tell me that they love me and that I'm a good man, I just have a hard time seeing it sometimes because I feel like I mess up all the damn time."

"Yeah?" The girl had leaned forward in her seat and appeared to be on the edge of it. Her eyes were shining with a flicker of something; hope maybe.

"Yeah." He nodded. "I gather you can understand a little bit. Just remember that your problems don't define who you are. Yeah they're something to work on, but you are more than your problems. We all have problems, but they don't need to define us."

The girl smiled.

It was a pained smile, but a genuine one.

"No one's ever said something like that to me before." She said softly.

"Maybe they should." He said. "You seem like a truly nice girl; don't let your problems define who you are. They might be a part of you that you need to work on, but they're only one part of you. They certainly don't need to define you, or define who you are."

"My problem doesn't need to define me." The girl said softly, almost experimentally; as if to see what it sounded like coming from her own lips.

"Yeah,." He nodded. "Don't forget that."

She smiled again, and it seemed much less pained this time. "Then, speaking as a woman, I'm sure if you sincerely apologized to your wife that she won't hold it against you." She paused for a moment, then continued. "You said your wives know that you're more than your temper. It sounds like maybe you need to be reminded of it right now too."

"Hmm, you're probably right." He nodded slowly.

She gave him a caring smile, and in response he felt his heart doing something it rarely did for anyone other than his wives.

It skipped a beat.

* * *

Sarah felt her heart skip a beat.

She couldn't believe how much better she felt. This man -- whoever he was -- had just explained how to look at her problem in a way that no one ever had before. He didn't try to sweep problems away or brush them under the rug though. He acknowledged that they existed, and that they were something to work on, but said that someone didn't need to be defined by his problems.

She didn't need to be defined by her problem.

She looked at him and felt her heart flutter slightly. She'd never really felt that before. She'd heard it described in stories before, but never felt it herself. This man was... it seemed like he really and truly understood her. He was kind and gentle about it too, not like Rindrin.

Rindrin...

She felt a pang of guilt.

She could feel herself falling hard for this man, but she was already betrothed. Illuminar was clear that a betrothed woman should be just as faithful to her betrothed as a married woman to her husband.

"Okay, it's my turn to ask." The man said. "Are you okay?"

She gave him another pained smile. "Speaking as a woman, I can tell you that if I had a husband who felt as bad as you do for snapping at me, I could never hold it against him."

"Thanks, that means a lot." He smiled at her, and he blinked. It might've been her imagination, but his eyes looked slightly watery as he looked at her. His expression was strange, and one she'd never seen before. He looked... intrigued?

Her heart fluttered.

This was bad.

Very bad.

She wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon talking with him, but didn't think that would be wise. She was betrothed, and knew that the longer she spent with this man, the harder she would fall for him. That wasn't fair to Rindrin.

"I hope things work out for you, and I will be praying for you." She said as she rose from her chair.

"Thank you; just remember that your problems don't need to define you." He said kindly. "They are a part of you and we all need to work on our issues, but they don't need to define who you are."

"Thank you." She said sincerely. "Thank you so much, I... I can't even begin to explain what that means to me."

"I'm glad I could help." He smiled.

He had a great smile.

She turned and walked into the kitchen, hoping she didn't come off as rude. She was glad that her father and Rindrin had gone into town earlier to pick up supplies. She wouldn't want her father to see her leaving customers that way, and she was glad that he hadn't seen her interaction with the man.

She smiled despite herself.

Her heart was beating slightly faster than normal and that wasn't good. She decided right then that she would try to think of him as little as possible. It wasn't fair to her betrothed and she was determined to be an exceptional wife to him... even if her heart fluttered for a different man.

* * *

Ethan watched the girl leave, not sure what to make of her. Something told him that she might understand his dragon side in some way. Something about the way she spoke of her 'problem' -- singular -- made him think that she might have an idea. He got the impression she might understand in a way that his wives didn't.

That girl did.

Or at least, she seemed to. And not only did she seem to understand, but she said that she would've forgiven him if she had a husband who'd done what he had done.

He smiled.

For the first time since coming to the Ten Kingdoms, he felt like someone might understand and sympathize with his predicament, and she had said that she would forgive him. For someone to say that when she might really understand what it was like... He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

It felt good.

He sat at the table for another ten minutes before he got antsy. He felt much better, though not perfect, and he wanted to move. Sitting was killing him. He got up and left the inn, figuring he'd pace outside on the road. It was a nice day, and the sun had broken through the clouds to shine down on the little outpost.

He hadn't been pacing long when he noticed Selene reemerging from woods about where she'd entered them. He walked over to her. "Problems?"

"I apparently didn't know that section of forest as well as I thought." The caramel-haired woman admitted. "I completely missed Sarah's garden and realized if I went too far I might get lost."

"Ah okay. Speaking of, what's this Sarah girl look like?" He asked.

"Um, a bit taller than Beth. Brown hair, brown eyes, kind and caring."

"Hmm. I think I met her." He said realizing. "Didn't you mention she had some kind of problem or something?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but I can't figure out what it is for the life of me."

"I wonder." He mused.

"You could always use that Jedi mind trick on her that you use on your wives." Selene rolled her eyes.

He gave her a wry grin, then waved his hand like a Jedi. "You don't want me to use my mind trick."

"I don't want you to use your mind trick." She echoed while suppressing a smile. "Besides, I'm not sure it would work on her anyway. I thought it only worked on your wives."

Ethan chuckled, then said in his best Darth Vader imitation. "I find your lack of faith... disturbing."

He raised his hands how the Dark Lord of the Sith usually did when force-choking someone. Selene played along, and grabbed her throat like she was actually being choked. She was a pretty damn good actress too, and if he didn't know better he would've thought that she was actually being choked.

Huh.

Hidden talents appar--

"NO!" Someone screamed from behind him.

Who...?

He turned to see the girl from the inn standing there, shaking with rage and fear.

"WE WON'T LET YOU HURT HER!" She shouted with an unearthly voice. It didn't sound like one person speaking, but like two speaking in near perfect sync.

It was chilling.

Something about her changed. It was subtle -- body language mostly -- but it was definite. The change reminded him of himself when he went into dragon mode, except the eyes. Something about her eyes changed. The warm brown eyes became cold as death and not nearly as merciful.

The girl snarled at him.

Actually snarled.

She sounded like some kind of wild animal, but he seriously doubted any animal -- even a dragon -- could utter a sound that full of unearthly rage and hate.

She charged towards him.

She charged at him moving far faster than it was possible for any human to move. She wasn't at Kyrupto levels of speed, but damn; she was fast. He raised his hands in a defensive posture while his dragon side screamed for him to run.

"No, Sarah he's not an enemy." Selene said loudly, but it was like the girl couldn't hear her.

Every fiber of Ethan's being was telling him that such a small girl couldn't be a threat, but every ounce of his dragon side wanted to flee in terror. Abject terror. He had never felt that from his dragon side before.

Ever.

The girl reached him and pushed out with both of her hand as if to throw him. His own arms blocked hers... or at least tried to. Her hands impacted his arms and he went flying. It was like being hit with an air ram and he counted himself lucky that his arms hadn't broken under the powerful push. He was thrown bodily into the air, righted himself and flapped his wings to gain control as he clicked off his disguise gem. He hoped that would be enough to deter the girl because he didn't want to hurt her.

It wasn't.

The girl reached down and grabbed a fist-sized rock and threw it at his wing.

Not him, his wing.

"OWW!" He roared in pain as the rock punched through the membrane of his wing. It left a large rent and he tumbled downwards, tucking in his wings and twisting in mid-air to land on all fours...

...just in time to dodge a punch that she had aimed at him.

* * *

Selene watch in disbelief as the kindest, sweetest, and most caring girl she'd ever met viciously attacked Ethan. There was an inhuman -- near unearthly -- ferocity and rage behind her movements. It was like watching a force of nature; as if a tornado could attack with unholy levels of spite and malice.

She was relentless, dogging Ethan's every move and following his every evasion. Finally, Ethan leapt backwards into the air to get some space and she saw his backpack fall as the armor pieces flew out of it. It was like watching a scene from Iron Man 3, where Tony Stark suits up with the Mark 42 armor.

It was amazing.

The pieces flew from the backpack into the air, swirling slightly as each zeroed in on their own respective body part. Someone had changed the color and instead of looking like untreated leather, they were pure white. The greaves snapped onto his lower legs, the sabatons did the same for his feet, the cuisses for his thighs, the vambraces for his lower arms, rerebraces for the upper arms. A large plate snapped onto his chest, and paldrons snapped to his shoulders. At least a dozen chevron shaped plates attached themselves to his tail, still allowing it to move but giving it excellent protection. Finally, the helmet locked onto his face. It conformed to his head perfectly, looking almost like a second skin on top of his scales, only white.

Each piece locked into place, curling and forming to create an impressive suit of armor around the dragon. He looked like a cross between The Mandalorian and that 'Master Chief' character from that Halo 2 game that her younger brother had played so much. However, his steel gray scales made a great contrast with the pure white armor.

He literally looked like a knight in shining armor

Well, a dragon-knight anyway

Ethan landed in a half-crouch and looked up at the girl, letting out a powerful roar as he did so. She didn't seem to notice or care; she didn't even slow down. She charged forward and started raining down blows with unearthly levels of strength and malice.

* * *

Ethan winced as a single punch that he'd failed to block impacted his torso armor... and caved a small dent into it. Underneath, he felt one or two of his ribs break. Without the armor, she might've punch a hole into his ribcage.

The girl had no fighting skill or style, but she was so fast and so strong that it almost didn't matter. He leaned back, narrowly avoiding a haymaker that might've taken his jaw completely off. The only thing keeping him ahead was his improved reflexes. The pain in his wing and chest was getting to him, so he started trying to heal them.

"I don't want to hurt you." He said loudly as he leapt backwards to avoid another attack.

She ignored him and kept on swinging.

It was as if some unearthly force had possessed her, granting her not only great speed and strength, but also a singular mind bent on destruction.

Specifically, his destruction.

*Ethan are you okay!* Alana's voice rang out in his head.

*Yeah, I'm just--*

The girl connected.

Her fist impacted his left shoulder and it blossomed in searing pain as he was thrown backwards. He barely managed not to tumble into the ground, landing on his three remaining legs. His arm felt like it had been dislocated and it sent a burst of agony whenever he moved.

The girl kept coming.

*Ethan!* Beth shouted to him.

*Ladies, not now; distracting.* He grunted as he leapt to avoid another one of her blows, wincing at the pain from his dislocated shoulder.

She wouldn't stop.

That's when Ethan realized he might be in serious trouble. Using his good arm, he swiped at the girl with his claws.

It did nothing.

Even his incredibly sharp index finger on his right hand -- which he'd enchanted to be beyond razor sharp while captured -- barely scratched her skin. It shredded right through her dress leaving a slit on the sleeve, but the arm itself was nearly untouched. He summoned his war hammer and used that to block one of her punches. Her fist impacted the elven steel head and he nearly lost his grip on the hammer. It didn't even slow her down; it didn't even leave a bruise on her fist. He got the distinct impression that the war hammer would break before she did.

He started charging his hammer as he considered his options. Flying was out with his damaged wing, and with an arm down there was no way he could outrun her. His only option was to fight, so he focused on charging his hammer to the Nth degree before releasing it.

CRACK!

The lightning bolt sizzled through the air and struck the girl mid-torso. It left a small, sizzling hole in the stomach of her dress, but the skin underneath seemed completely unblemished. She seemed stunned for barely a moment, and then resumed her attack.

"WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE, SERVANT OF ILLUMINAR!" The girl shrieked, though it wasn't the girl anymore. Gone were the echoes of her sweet voice. In its place was a raspy, wispy voice that sounded like what Beth had described when...

Shit!

Holy fuck!