A Dragon's Tale Ch. 44

Chapter 44: No good deed goes unpunished

I now have an editor, so you all shouldn't need to put up with my typos and poor/dyslexic editing skills anymore. :)

* * *

Ethan's enhanced reflexes gave him time to think, and he used that time just as Serif had drilled into him.

First, threat identification.

Six orcs had ambushed him in the forest leading to orc's camp, all rushing at him. They all towered over him, being as tall as professional basketball players and built like NFL linebackers. One was armed with a longsword, two had axes paired with wooden shields, and the remaining three had wooden clubs with iron bands at the tip. None of the orcs had armor. Their clothes all had a spread-fingered hand painted on their clothes in what looked like red paint. At least he hoped it was paint.

Second, threat assessment.

The longsword wielder: low threat, low defense. The blade couldn't penetrate his armor, and he highly doubted the orc was skilled enough to hit the small gaps between Ethan's armor plates. Further, the comparatively lightweight blade didn't have enough momentum to damage him through the armor like a heavier blunt weapon would. With his vastly superior training, Ethan was pretty sure he could defeat him in a few seconds if it was a one-on-one fight.

The two axe wielders with shields: medium threat, high defense. The axes were heavy enough to pose a danger even through the armor because of blunt force trauma, and would easily lop off a limb if they hit a gap between his armor plates. Their shields would make it significantly harder to attack them too.

The three club wielders: high threat, low defense. Those clubs might be able to break bones with blunt force even through the armor; avoid at all costs. The upside is that they were slower than his sword so defeating them wouldn't be as hard... but there were three of them.

Third, threat priority.

The two axe and shield wielders would take longer to kill because of the shields. The club wielders were high-risk, high reward. The longsword wielder would be relatively easy and fast to defeat, reducing the number of opponents.

The longsword wielder it is.

He pivoted on the balls of his feet to his ten 'O clock, dug his claws into the earth and leapt forward, raising his shield to block the incoming longsword attack as he drew his war sword. The orc's longsword bit slightly into his leather shield, but not much. Ethan angled the shield around a bit to give room to fully draw his large war sword. It cleared the scabbard and he rotated his wrist, keeping the blade above the shield as he cut towards the orc's chest.

The world slowed. The axe blade from the orc who had been in front of him -- but was now beside him -- impacted the back of Ethan's knee, hitting the gap between the armor plates and severing his leg.

Reacting to the warning from his 'dragon-sense', Ethan jerked his leg up as fast as he could, making the axe impact on the back of the greaves instead of his knee. With only a quarter-second warning, it was close.

Very close.

Wham!

The axe bit into his armor slightly, but didn't penetrate. The impact felt like a tank had rolled over his leg, but it still worked and wasn't broken. The impact and his fast leg adjustment made his sword attack on the longsword wielder go wide. His momentum carried him forward though, and he collapsed the shield to roll forward between the longsword wielder and the axe wielder who had attacked him.

He rolled into a standing position and leapt backwards to get some space.

Being a dragon, it was quite a jump.

Still, his chest ached from the earlier arrow hit and his leg was throbbing from the axe hit. They weren't damaged enough to impact his fighting skills though, so he didn't start healing them. He might need the mana for more serious wounds soon.

The six orcs fanned out in front of him.

It took him a moment to realize that they looked more interested in cutting off his escape rather than maneuvering for an attack. The primitive, draconic part of his brain recognized this from before when they had used goblins to rush at him.

Was that their plan now?

He chanced a glance behind him and didn't see anything, but the orcs had managed to surround and ambush him earlier and he had been completely oblivious to their presence, so he wasn't sure that meant anything. He could only think of one way to ensure he wasn't ambushed from the rear.

He leapt into a tree.

The lower branch was about fifteen feet off the ground. It was high but doable, especially with his strength enhancing armor. He sheathed his war sword and then realized that the distance had its downsides against orcs.

They were pulling out their warbows.

He reached down and snatched his dagger from his side, activated it into javelin mode, and threw it at one of the orcs who had a club. The orc had great reflexes and mostly managed to dodge it. Ethan had been aiming for his heart, but it pierced through his shoulder instead. It looked like it had punched through the joint too, which would've shattered the bones that it hadn't cut through.

Then he raised his shield as the other orcs loosed their arrows.

The impact on his shield from five orcish arrows coming from powerful 200+ pound warbows knocked him off balance and out of the tree. He rolled his shield and then twisted in mid-air to land on his feet, thanking his lucky stars that dragons were similar to cats that way and it was almost automatic, like a reflex.

The orcs started forward, and that's when Ethan remembered something.

He had grenades.

He reached into the grenade satchel and grabbed one with his right hand, leaving his sword in its scabbard. The orcs fanned out again and he realized that he wouldn't be able to get more than two, maybe three if he was lucky. Fortunately, two of them were standing together; an axe-and-shield orc next to a club orc.

He activated the grenade, waited three of the five seconds on the fuse to ensure that they didn't try to throw it back at him, then tossed it so it landed between the two of them. The orcs looked confused for a second, then...

BOOM!!!

Ethan had raised his shield just before the grenade had gone off to protect himself as a precaution, so he didn't actually see what happened.

He saw the aftermath though.

The grenade had-- well the two orcs were gone. Not vaporized, but there were bits of them all over the immediate area. The bits were large enough to be recognizable, and there was a red coating over the area that hadn't there had been seconds before.

The eyes of the remaining orcs widened to as large as saucers.

As much as Ethan would've liked to threaten them with another grenade, it was too risky if they tried to throw it back at him. His armor would protect most of him, but there were gaps between the plates and he didn't want to test the shield's strength. Instead, he drew his war sword and collapsed his shield so he could hold the blade in two hands. With only four opponents, one of whom had a disabled arm, he felt much more confident.

"Back off." He said as he moved his sword into a low guard, then raised a hand and summoned his javelin back to his hand, which elicited a cry of pain as it pulled itself out of the injured orc's shoulder. He cocked it back ready to throw, the threat obvious.

The orcs looked at each other and one said something in orcish.

Another replied with something that sounded decidedly disagreeable, but then a third orc spoke with an authoritative tone and gestured towards the camp. Slowly and without turning their backs, the remaining orcs collected their warbows started backing away from him.

Ethan didn't lower his sword.

With their long legs, it didn't take long for them to be far enough away that they were obscured by the trees. They retreated while facing him for a long ways before turning and double-timing it away from him, looking back regularly until they were out of sight.

Ethan let out a sigh of relief and lowered his sword, but wasn't stupid enough to lower his guard. He'd already been ambushed by orcs, so apparently their large size didn't prevent them from being quite stealthy. Come to think of it, their green skin tone probably helped as well. He switched his javelin to dagger mode and sheathed it, and likewise sheathed his sword.

*Ethan?* Alana's voice came tentatively to the group chat.

*I'm okay.* He replied, guessing that they had felt his emotions and had remained silent during the fight so as not to distract him. *A few orcs ambushed us but I'm okay. Alana, that new enchantment that made the shield rollable might've saved my life.*

*Oh, thank Illuminar.* The wood elf replied, which was followed by similar exclamations by his remaining wives.

*I think I might spend some time improving my hearing; I don't want to get ambushed like that again.* He mused to them, but afterward considered the noise of the grenades on enhanced ears.

That didn't sound pleasant.

Hmm.

*Good idea.* Selene replied. *Also, be careful out there; you'd leave behind a lot of widows if something happened to you.*

He smiled.

That sounded like the Brazilian woman was actually concerned about him, but didn't want to come right out and say it.

*I will be.* He replied, then turned to the translucent royal blue outline that indicated where Beth's Astral Plane form was. *So Angel, how do you feel about doing a little recon?*

*Oh?*

*Yeah.* He smiled and winked at her. *You didn't think I brought you all the way out here just because I like your hot body and pretty face, did you?*

The blonde chuckled and blushed, or at least he thought it was a blush; it was harder to tell when she was translucent. She hesitated for a moment.

*Come on, can you honestly tell me you aren't curious what an orc encampment is like?*

She smiled widely.

*I thought so, get going.* He said and swung his hand so that if she had been solid, he would've given her a playful smack on the butt.

*Yes Dominus!* She beamed, then took off running after the orcs.

As he watched her leave, he started healing the bruises from the fight. They weren't bad so it didn't take long. However, it did occur to him that he was getting awfully comfortable with fighting for his life. He wasn't even shocked anymore when someone appeared out of nowhere and tried to shuffle him loose from his mortal coil.

Now he was about to find out what an orc camp was like...

...unless there was another ambush.

That was always a possibility lately, and it seemed to happen to him and those around him with alarming frequency. Still, one ambush a day seemed like the max, right? Surely no one would ambush him again -- or worse his wives -- today, right? He shook his head; he'd gone from unmarried and ambush-free on Earth, to having five wives and constant ambushes in the Ten Kingdoms.

My how life had changed.

* * *

Selene winced as Rachel poked her with the large needle again, just deep enough that she could practice healing but not so deep as to cause problems. The needle actually had a round disk about a quarter inch from the point to prevent it from going too deep. It still hurt though.

"Okay, here goes." The Brazilian woman started focusing on the wound again, incorporating what the teen mage had just told her about healing. The caramel haired beauty had asked Taloni as well, but the Fey teen was clearly one of those intuitive types and her explanations weren't as helpful as Rachel's were. The redhead was clear and methodical while Taloni -- as helpful as she was trying to be -- was more abstract about how to actually do it.

Selene hated abstracts.

It went much faster this time and used much less mana with the teen mage's help, but still took over a minute and a significant chunk of her mana. Still, not bad for only her second day trying.

"Okay, that's better." She said as she looked at the now-healed wound after wiping away the few drops of blood that had escaped.

"You are picking this up so incredibly fast." The redhead shook her head slowly.

"Really?"

The teen mage nodded. "Yes. It took me alot longer. I suspect it might have something to do with your bond to Ethan."

Selene frowned, but nodded anyway. "My telepathy did seem to appear almost instantly after bonding to him, and both magic and collecting mana got a lot easier too."

"Precisely." The redhead said. "All of us found it easier to collect mana after bonding to him, and I found it easier to do magic as well. Regardless, that's probably enough healing practice for today. You're probably down to what, half mana?"

"About." Selene replied, checking and seeing that her 'mana river' was about half as full as when she'd started.

"We'll pick it up later when you have more mana." Rachel said.

"I'll meditate to restore it then."

"Actually, it might be good if we just walked around town to do that."

"Oh?"

The redhead nodded. "Like I've explained before, all living creatures pull more mana than they need from the Ether and leave the excess lying around. Normally it's scooped up by mages pretty quickly in populated areas, which is why we usually need to meditate to pull it faster through the barrier. This town doesn't have any mages though, so you should be able to replenish your mana faster and more easily if we take a walk while you pull the excess in."

"Okay, let's do that then." She smiled. She didn't actually dislike meditating to restore her mana, but a walk sounded a lot more fun.

"Did I hear something about a walk?" Alana asked from nearby.

"Yeah, Selene and I were going to take a walk to replenish her mana. Did..." Rachel blushed slightly and got the tiniest of embarrassed smiles on her face. "Did you want to come with us?"

"I'd love to." A seemingly involuntary grin spread across the wood elf's face.

"Should we invite Taloni and Kendra too?" Selene asked, thinking they might feel left out.

"Sure." Alana and Rachel said at the same time, then looked at each other and got identical half-amused, half-embarrassed smiles.

Selene stood and looked around for the Fey and the dragon huntress but didn't see them on deck. However, she did see some riders to the north heading towards the town in the far distance. She squinted, but could only make out that there were about a dozen riders wearing green.

She shrugged and the three women found the other two and then told Anthiel what they were doing. Selene went below decks to the women's quarters at the front of the ship to find Thor. He was still curled up on some of Selene's clothes, just like he had been when the Brazilian woman had started practicing healing with Rachel.

"You're a good kitty." She whispered and gently petted him.

He started purring, though he didn't wake up.

"I'll be back soon." She whispered, then went up to the weather deck to link up with the rest of the girls and they headed towards the gangplank.

"Um, should we be armed?" Taloni asked just before stepping onto the gangplank. "Master seemed to think it was a good idea because of the orcs."

Selene hesitated and looked at Alana.

"It can't hurt, and that's what Ethan wanted." The wood elf replied.

They all went to the hold to get one of the elven swords that the wood elf king had given them. Selene hadn't yet seen a good reason to take her strength enhancing vambraces off -- much like Kendra never took hers off either -- and she grabbed one of the elven swords like all the other women except for Taloni.

Then they set off.

Dotmier was a much different town to walk through when it wasn't sopping wet from all-day rain. It was still a bit muddy, but it was far more pleasant. There were people outside doing various family chores like washing, plus kids playing outside and old men sitting on chairs shooting the breeze.

The town had a similar look and feel to one of those westerns where the hero rides up to a town that's slightly past it's prime, only the ground was mud instead of sand and the buildings were much closer together. The wood of the various buildings were mostly a weather-beaten gray color and it wasn't common to see newer wood. The sun was poking through the cloudy sky in places and the air was warm, as was typical for summer.

Rachel told Selene how to draw in the mana laying around the area as they walked, and the Brazilian woman found it much easier and faster than meditating to restore her mana.

Ahead of her, Alana and Rachel were leading the way.

It was funny to see because one of their hands would occasionally twitch towards the other, but they never actually held hands. Brushed each other once or twice yes, but not held. Unless Selene missed her guess, they were nervous about holding hands in public. Hell, Rachel was probably nervous about doing it in private.

The walk turned into a long, ambling stroll through town.

A lot of people waved to them and otherwise greeted them. More than one recognized them and they said things like:

"I'll be praying for your husband."

"Thank Illuminar that you're here."

Or even "I wish I could marry the prophet too" from some of the younger women.

Selene kept her comments about that to herself.

They eventually made it to the town gates as some riders were entering, and they looked like the ones she'd seen just before they left for the walk. All of them were wearing chainmail, and over it was a green surcoat with a stylized white mountain in the center of the chest.

The townspeople didn't exactly flee before them, but they certainly seemed to have business elsewhere all of a sudden.

Hmm.

The soldiers clearly noticed them -- frankly, they were a hard group to miss -- and their eyes followed them.

"Let's move on ladies." Alana said quietly enough that the men wouldn't hear, but not so low that it would look suspicious.

They moved on, and Selene could almostfeel the soldiers' eyes on them until they were out of sight. Something about their gaze made her want to take a shower.

*Hey ladies, is something wrong?* Ethan asked, doubtless feeling their discomfort.

*Just some Ivernian guards staring while we take a walk around town; we're fine.* Alana replied.

*Okay, good.* He replied. *Beth should get to the orc camp soon; did you all want to hear, or should she only tell me what she--

*All of us!* Taloni interjected excitedly.

The ladies around her chuckled.

*Ok, just me it is then.* Ethan replied with mischievous amusement all over his tone.

*Mas-ter.* The Fey teen sighed as she shook her head.

Selene laughed.

They ambled around the town for another few minutes before deciding to head back to the Argo. Selene's mana was full and it was starting to get unpleasantly warm in the mid-morning sun. The clouds had started to dissipate from the sky, leaving them in the sun more as well.

"Hold up." Kendra said a minute later and they all stopped. The dragon huntress looked around, seeming a bit more tense that normal.

"What's wrong?" Alana asked.

"I'm not sure, but something feels off." The raven haired woman replied as she looked around.

"Off?" Selene asked.

"Yeah." The dragon huntress frowned, then rested her non-sword hand on the hilt of her bastard sword. "Keep your eyes open, something isn't right."

Alana nodded, then looked down the street they had been planning to take back to the Argo. "How about we try another way?"

Kendra nodded. "Selene, take point. I'll bring up the rear. Taloni, stay between Alana and Rachel."

Everyone nodded and then did as the veteran warrior instructed. The walked down a new street, and it did seem a bit quiet now that Selene was paying attention.

Too quiet.

"Halt!"

In front of them, one of the Ivernian soldiers stepped out from behind a building. He was followed by five more men who fanned out and blocked the exit from that direction. Five of the men were holding arming swords and shields, the last was armed with a bow.