A Dragon's Tale Ch. 39

* * *

Beth was sitting around the dinner fire as usual, but the dinner mood was anything but usual. They'd had cheerful dinners, philosophical dinners, sad dinners, tired dinners, and a whole host of other dinner types on the Argo; but never an awkward dinner.

Right now, it was a little awkward.

Alana and Rachel were usually sitting so close they were almost snuggling, but weren't right now. Oh, they were still sitting together and still clearly liked each other, but there was something between them that didn't quite make sense.

Rachel would occasionally glance at the wood elf like she was trying to decide something. More than once she touched her hand thoughtfully to her own lips, but then seemed to realize she was doing it and went back to eating. She was nearly silent almost the entire dinner and looked like she had a lot on her mind. Somehow, Beth guessed that Rachel was thinking about much more than the revelation about her father.

Likewise, Alana kept glancing at the redhead, but the brunette looked alternately blissfully happy, embarrassed, or even nervous; sometimes all three at once.

Meanwhile, Ethan and Kendra were doing the opposite: completely avoiding each other's eyes. Beth noticed a touch of dragon in Ethan every time he laid eyes on the dragon huntress, and his solution seemed to be simply not looking at her. The blonde guessed that Kendra was avoiding his eye because she'd noticed this.

All in all, dinner was a subdued affair.

Everyone had just about finished eating when Rachel broke the tension. "I'll do everything I can to help defeat the black dragon, but I don't know if I can help in an actual fight against him; not if he's my father."

All eyes turned to her.

She grimaced. "I can help with anything else, but actually fighting my father..." She reached down and touched the black mark on her finger over which the will-breaker ring had rested. "...I don't know if I could do it, and I don't want to put anyone in danger because they counted on me and I couldn't do it."

Alana took the redhead's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"I understand." Beth said, thinking about her tumultuous relationship with her own father.

Ethan nodded. "Thanks for saying something. I get that, and it would be pretty cruel to ask you to help kill your own father, no matter what he's done."

"Thank you for understanding." The mage gave him a pained smile.

"Any time." He smiled at her, then looked around at everyone. "We really haven't talked about it, but if Lord Delmar really is the black dragon, then the way we fight him will have to change."

"Agreed, it actually gives us more options." Kendra piped up, and Beth couldn't help noticing that Ethan licked his lips in a very dragon-ish way as his eyes settled on her.

"How do you mean?" The blond teen asked.

"Exposure." The raven-haired woman replied. "Can you imagine the reaction if people learned that Lord Delmar is actually a dragon?"

"But how would we prove that?" Alana asked.

"The birthmarks?" Taloni suggested.

Kendra shook her head. "He could easily claim that Rachel isn't his daughter. He's already disinherited her, and that would make it even easier."

A dragon-ish smile was playing on Ethan's face as he looked at the raven-haired woman. It was nearly identical to the look looks he often gave his wives when he was horny, and even more closely resembled how he'd looked at the dragon huntress at Anthiel's house.

*Dominus...* She thought to him.

He glanced at her and his wolfish grin faltered. *Thanks angel; I've been having a hard time and..." He trailed off. *I really hate my dragon side, you know that?*

*I know Dominus, and I wish I could help.*

He gave her a half-grin. *You do angel; you do.*

She smiled.

"Really, there's no way to prove that Lord Delmar is a dragon except to disable his disguise enchantment in the room with a ton of witnesses." Rachel said as Beth started paying attention to the audible conversation again.

"Even then, it might not work." Selene pointed out. "He could just show up later saying it was an imposter pretending to be him and not him himself."

"Is there any way to avoiding fighting him?" Taloni asked, her wings fluttering nervously.

"I doubt it." Ethan replied. "If Kyrupto was any indication, Dragos don't take the loss of anything well. At some point, we'll probably end up fighting each other, and I'm not looking forward to that."

"But, you'll be okay, right master?" The Fey asked, her wings fluttering even more nervously. "You're enchanting yourself every day to get stronger right?"

"Every single day, lately on that 'spider sense' thing I told you all about." He nodded. "I just hope it's enough."

"Lord Delmar has quite a head start." Kendra pointed out. "He's had decades; you've had months."

He looked at the dragon huntress, and Beth saw the dragon come back somewhat.

*Ethan.* She thought to him again, and judging by the look on Alana's face she'd done the same.

He shook his head, probably trying to clear it.

Kendra eyed Ethan, then yawned. "I'm heading to bed." She stretched, making an obvious show of being tired. However, as she did her shirt rode up enough to reveal a little sliver of skin on her right side between her pants and her long-sleeve shirt. The dragon grinned wickedly, and it almost looked like Ethan's mouth was watering as he looked at that tiny sliver of skin.

Kendra seemed to notice and looked at him.

That was probably a mistake.

"Um, ladies; a little help here." Kendra said, turning her head while her eyes were locked onto Ethan's.

"Stay!" The dragon barked at his wives. He leaned forward slightly and suddenly Kendra stiffened up.

"Ladies, please I could use--" The raven-haired woman's words died on her lips, though it looked like she was still trying to finish her sentence.

Beth sat almost rooted to the spot. She could've gotten up, but Ethan -- or the dragon -- had told her not to. It took her several seconds to realize that maybe this wasn't the best time to obey Ethan, regardless of how much she felt like she should generally.

The blonde glanced at Taloni, and could see the same struggle in the Fey's eyes.

Alana and Rachel recovered first.

The couple looked at each other and then stood. That jarred Beth and apparently Taloni out of their hesitation and they also stood up. As one, they moved between Ethan and Kendra, breaking his line of sight. He growled at them, and Beth felt a sudden desire to capitulate and move.

"Ethan, not like this." Alana said.

"Raklan and Serif are here." Rachel pointed out. "You wouldn't want them to see Kendra, would you?"

He growled again, but it seemed more like annoyance now.

"Master, not right now; not like this." Taloni whispered.

"Dominus, please?"

"Kendra, go below." Alana said in a commanding voice as she locked eyes with Ethan.

Beth almost smiled.

The wood elf was so brave, and so strong-willed that she could match wills with him. The dragon stared back at his first wife, visible frustration on his face at Alana's refusal to move while Kendra beat a hasty retreat to the lower decks. There was a tense few seconds until she disappeared from sight, then the dragon started to calm down slightly.

"Thank you." Ethan said almost a minute later. His shoulders were slumped and he was slowly shaking his head, probably at himself.

* * *

Kendra breathed a sigh of relief as she reached the bottom of the stairs to the Argo's lower deck.

That had been close.

Too close.

Worse, it was getting closer. While his wives had been able to talk him down the previous time, this time they'd needed to physically interrupt his compulsion. She got the strong feeling that if she stayed on the Argo much longer, she'd end up on the dragon's bed.

She shuddered.

Ethan wasn't so bad -- she kind of liked him -- but the dragon... Her stomach clenched and she had to resist the urge to expel her dinner. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "It's okay Kendra, nothing happened."

But it almost had.

She shook her head as she walked to her hammock, wondering if she was being stupid for staying on the Argo. She knew she needed to leave if she wanted to avoid... that. However, she just couldn't. Even contemplating the idea of not being on the Argo with her new friends was just... she shook her head. She couldn't do it. She couldn't leave.

That was before she contemplated what it would be like saying goodbye to Taloni...

She grimaced.

*Kendra?* Ethan thought tentatively to her, and she could hear the shame and guilt in his tone.

*I forgive you Ethan.* She replied, almost on instinct. *I realize it wasn't you, and I've tried to do far worse to you.*

He didn't say anything for several seconds.

*I mean it Ethan, I really do forgive you." She thought to him, and then thought to everyone. *I'm sure you can gather that Ethan just apologized, and I told him not to worry about it.*

*Thank you Kendra.* Taloni replied. *Master was really worried about how you'd feel after what happened at dinner.*

*Kendra.* Ethan broke in on the group conversation. *I hate to say this, but you might want to consider leaving the Argo because--*

*No.* She interrupted. *Unless you kick me off the ship, I'm not leaving. Are you kicking me off?*

*No.* He replied hastily.

*We would never do that, right master?*

*No we wouldn't.* He agreed. *But I'm having so much trouble controlling my dragon side, and if you stay...*

*We already talked about that Ethan.* Kendra replied. *I know, and I'm willing to risk it.*

He didn't say anything after that.

Neither did she.

Nor anyone else.

There wasn't anything else to say. She had a feeling that it was inevitable at this point, and found herself wondering if the dragon would chase her down even if she left the Argo. She wouldn't put it past him, well, his dragon side anyway. Ethan would fight it the entire time.

She slipped into her hammock and found herself staring at the ceiling.

What if it did happen?

Now that she considered what might happen for the first time in any serious way, she realized that Ethan might see what was under her clothes.

She frowned as she subconsciously covered herself, fully clothed though she was. Her only set of clothes was enchanted to be self-cleaning and self-repairing, and it had long sleeves and full length pants. The long sleeves were tremendously helpful in concealing her strength-enhancing vambraces and -- before she'd run out -- her throwing knives too.

For some reason, she really didn't want Ethan to see the all the remnants of past battles that were still etched into her skin.

She wasn't sure why that idea bothered so her much, but it did.

* * *

Sarah was frankly unnerved by the look that the old woman was giving her. She was scrutinizing her like she'd never seen anything like her before.

"What?" Sarah asked yet again, still being strapped to the wide, horizontal wooden board.

"There's nothing in your blood, or at least nothing that's different or shouldn't be there." The old woman tapped her foot on the floor, or at least that's what Sarah assumed the tapping sound was.

The other woman then reached her hand out, held it several inches above Sarah's head, and slowly moved it down, as if she was feeling something that no one could see. It took her over a minute to reach the feet, and she frowned when she did.

"There's something seriously screwed up with your mana."

"There is?" The innkeeper's daughter bit her lip.

"Well, sort of." The old woman shook her head and seemed to be thinking aloud just as much as answering her. "I mean, there's nothing actually wrong with it, but... Yeah, there's something wrong with everything around it."

Sarah didn't reply.

She was pretty sure she knew why, and felt her cheeks get warm as she turned her face away. She couldn't actually go anywhere because she was still shackled to the wooden table-like plank thing; but she wanted to. Her problem apparently went deeper than she had thought it did.

* * *

Taloni woke before the sun, thinking mostly about what had happened at dinner the night before. She wanted her husband and Kendra to be properly married, but she really didn't want his dragon side involved; at least, not how it had been the previous night.

She looked over at her husband and other wives. Rachel was lying in his arms, sleeping peacefully. Alana was next to her, and Beth was between him and Taloni, putting the Fey girl on the end of the lineup. Taking advantage of that, she slipped off the bed, making sure not to disturb anyone while doing so.

She slipped on her dress as protection against the slightly cool morning air, padded over to the desk across from the bed and next to the door, opened the largest drawer, and pulled out her copy of the Book of Light. She still felt incredibly grateful to have it. It was written in the Fey language and not fancy, so it had almost no value to a non-Fey. There weren't a lot of Fey living outside of Fey lands, so no one had ever tried to take it from her.

She thanked Illuminar for that.

She opened the book, lit a candle, and began to pray for Kendra and master's relationship and read in equal measure.

The sky had grown just light enough that she didn't need the candle when she heard movement behind her. Rachel had rolled slightly out of master's arms and was now snuggling with Alana, while he was yawning as he woke.

*Good morning master.* She thought directly to him so she didn't wake up her fellow wives.

*Morning honey.* He looked up at her, yawned again, then slid carefully out of bed, making sure not to disturb the bed's other occupants. He walked over to her and looked over her shoulder. *Book of Light?*

*Yes master.* She nodded. *I was praying and reading.*

He nodded. *You do that most days, don't you?*

She nodded. *Illuminar has taken such great care of me, the least I can do is spend time with Him every morning.*

He shrugged.

*What's wrong master?*

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. *It's...* He looked out the window in the direction of Sarah's inn, then towards the front of the ship where Kendra slept.

He shook his head. *I'm just working through some stuff. I think I'm going to go do my meditating exercises then maybe... I don't know; wander aimlessly around the weather deck or something.*

*Do you want company master, or...?*

*Um...* He ran his hand over the top of head and onto one of his horns, exactly where his hair would be if he was human.

*It's okay master, I'll stay here and pray for you.* She replied, guessing that he wanted to be alone for a bit.

*You're an incredible wife, you know that?* He smiled at her, then leaned down and tenderly kissed the top of her head.

*Thank you master!* She beamed.

He ruffled her honey-blonde hair slightly, though it didn't do anything because of her Fey heritage; her hair fell perfectly back into place. He gave her a pensive, slightly mournful grin, then slipped out the door.

Not long afterward, The Fey got a strong feeling that she should go talk to Kendra. She wasn't sure why, but she did. She considered for a few moments, then figured it couldn't hurt. She put the Book of Light back in its drawer and slipped out onto the weather deck.

Master was sitting cross-legged at the front of the Argo facing towards the front of the ship. She could see him doing his deep breathing exercises, and hoped he would get a better handle on his dragon instincts. The Fey teen really wanted Kendra's first time with him to be special, and she didn't think the dragon would treat Kendra nearly as well if he was in 'dragon mode' as he sometimes called it.

She said another quick prayer to Illuminar about that and then headed below decks to the women's sleeping area. She had to pass through the men's area first, and couldn't help but roll her eyes as she walked past Raklan's hammock, where the burly crewman was sawing logs.

"Kendra." She whispered after ducking through the curtain.

The raven-haired woman was up almost instantly, looking slightly bleary-eyed, but very much awake. Apparently, she slept with her sword in the hammock because it was suddenly in her hand, though not drawn.

"Taloni." She smiled and relaxed a bit when she saw her, and the Fey gave her a small smile.

"Good morning." The Fey teen whispered, so as not to wake Selene.

"What occasions the visit?" Kendra whispered back, setting her sword down inside her hammock again.

"Master is up at the bow of the ship, and I think he could use someone to talk to."

The dragon huntress cocked her head to one side. "Why me?" She then looked towards the small porthole that was letting the pre-dawn light in. "And why... wh..." She yawned. "Why now?"

"I just had a feeling." She shrugged, then echoed the yawn.

Kendra made a thoughtful expression, then nodded her head in concession. "You feelings seem to be spot on where I'm concerned."

The Fey smiled. "I try."

"You succeed." She smiled. "Okay, I'll go talk to him. Do you know about what?"

"Um, I have a guess, but I'd rather he told you. I think you could help him with what's bothering him in a way that no one else can."

"Really?"

Taloni nodded. "I think so."

"I'll go talk to him then." She said, swinging her legs out of the hammock.

The Fey couldn't help but notice that she left her sword behind, even with what had happened the previous night.

She smiled.

* * *

Kendra stretched a bit after walking out onto the weather deck. It was early morning and the sun hadn't risen yet, though the sky was slowly getting lighter. Ethan was indeed at the front of the ship, leaning on the point where the railings on the two sides of the Argo converged at the front. She walked over to stand several feet behind him since she couldn't stand beside him.

Honestly, it felt a bit awkward.

He seemed mostly oblivious to her presence, and frankly most everything else except the horizon and perhaps the scenery scrolling by underneath the Argo. After a minute, Kendra exhaled particularly loudly to alert him to her presence.

He turned and got a small smile on his face when he saw her, though he looked a bit guilty too. All trace of the dragon was completely absent.

"Morning Kendra."

"Morning." She gave him an embarrassed half smile.

"What's up?"

"Taloni said I should come talk to you."

"About what?"

"I have no idea." She shrugged. "What were you thinking about?"

Suddenly, he didn't quite meet her eye. He hesitated for several seconds, then shook his head. "It's... I'm not sure I'm ready to talk about it."

"Okay." Kendra shrugged. "Do you want me to leave you alone?"

"You don't have to." He replied, and his tone informed her that he probably didn't want to be alone. "There's plenty of railing and some beautiful scenery. I think we crossed back over into Ivernia during the night."

He took several steps back so there was room beside him and then looked out over the rolling hills beneath them in the light of pre-dawn. Kendra stepped up beside him and did likewise, noting the vibrant, lush green of Ivernia. They stood there for several minutes, each looking out on different sides of the ship. It wasn't an awkward silence, but it wasn't quite a comfortable one either.

Finally, Ethan turned towards her and broke it. "I am selfish?"

"No." She replied simply as she faced him. "Why do you ask?"

"Are you sure?" He pressed. "Am I usually putting other people's lives at risk for things I want?"

"You all but begged me to leave the Argo yesterday, so no." She raised an eyebrow. "Why, do you feel like you're doing something selfish right now?"

He shook his head, but that guilty expression was back and it seemed like he was shaking his head more at himself than in answer to her question. She wanted to ask about it, but wasn't really sure how to without being nosey. After several seconds, he made a thoughtful sound and went back to looking at the landscape scrolling underneath them. Kendra did the same, still not sure what he was referring to.