A Dragon's Tale Ch. 50

"Why did you attack us?" The dragon huntress asked.

Instantly, Selene's mental sight was clouded with visions of gold handed to him by Lord Delmarand Lord Farbrottan. She thought she briefly caught sight of a wanted poster amid the flash of images that ended with at least a dozen naked women waiting on his every desire. Many of them were in chains and some of them were crying as he surveyed the scene with a shit-eating grin on his face.

*Ugly fucking bitch.* The man thought at Kendra. *You couldn't pay me to bang her. I'll bet she's a lousy lay too.*

He said nothing aloud.

Selene nudged Kendra again.

"How did you know we were here?" The raven-haired woman asked.

Again, Selene saw flashes and images of hurried meetings and a hastily put-together operation. She didn't catch a lot, but from the little she did catch, it seemed like someone had seen them the previous day when they'd headed out of town toward Julian's ranch. The rest seemed obvious from there, so Selene slammed her mental defenses shut, not wanting to spend another moment in this man's putrid, disgusting mind anymore.

The man still wasn't speaking, but Selene got a flash of what he wanted to do to her just before her mental defenses had fully closed and it made her want to puke.

"Come on, he won't tell us anything." Selene said; no sense tipping their hand that she was a telepath.

The man laughed, then made some rather inappropriate comments at the women as they turned to walk away; they made Selene wish that she didn't have such a spectacular ass.

"If you want, I can come back tonight and introduce him to Illuminar." Kendra offered casually once they were back in the main room.

"I'm afraid that is out of the question." Octavian was smiling wryly like it was merely a joke.

"Selene?" The former Aldmiri repeated, completely ignoring the guard captain.

"Better not; we might upset our host." The Brazilian woman said after a moment, smiling like Kendra had been jesting. She wasn't entirely sure that the former Aldmiri was though. The woman's skills and near-complete indifference to killing made an interesting contrast with how protective and sweet she could be with her family.

"What did you learn?" Kendra asked.

"They were just bounty hunters." Selene replied. "They were in it for the reward money and nothing else. Also, it seems like Lord Farbrottan might've posted a bounty on us too because he seemed to think he would get a mountain of gold from both himand Lord Delmar."

Kendra set her jaw. "We need better weapons and defenses if there aretwo lords after us."

Selene nodded. "Agreed, but for now let's get back to the others. We can brainstorm on the way."

* * *

"Cut-resistant fabric would help, but without weapons to match..." Kendra frowned as she considered the problem her friend had brought up. "You can only be defensive for so long before you make a mistake and die."

"Agreed." Selene replied.

"And I agree as well." Octavian turned a corner on the street, leading them back towards the castle. They were surrounded by a half-dozen of Shara and Lyra's royal guard. An entire platoon of Timarou soldiers had escorted the rest of the ladies back to the castle, carefully watched by Asikan, another leader in the royal guard.

"Alana has her travel bow, isn't there a 'travel sword' or something?" Selene asked.

"I have heard reports of such things, but never seen them." Octavian said, looking both ways before entering a new street.

"I have seen them and they work." The former Aldmiri replied. "However, it would need to be made of dragon steel which is very expensive."

"Not elven steel? Can't that be enchanted as well?" The caramel-haired beauty asked.

"True, but elven steel can only hold a single enchantment." Kendra replied. "It would need a stiffening enchantment to be usable, and then also a self-repairing enchantment because it would need to be so thin. If it couldn't repair itself, it wouldn't last very long."

"So let's say we got some dragon steel and made super thin swords that were flexible enough to bend or something?" Selene replied. "And then they had an enchantment to make them stiff when we needed to fight like Alana's bow? Alana wears her travel bow around her waist; why couldn't we do something similar with a flexible sword and a scabbard that wraps around the waist?"

Kendra chuckled. "There's nothing new under the sun. That's exactly like the ones I have seen, though I haven't seen them often."

Octavian stopped -- which brought the rest of the guard to a stop -- and he looked at the former Aldmiri. "Often? You have seen them more than once?"

She nodded.

"Might I ask how?" Octavian asked. "How did you end up in such a position to see more than one?"

"Very carefully." Kendra replied neutrally, having no desire to go into her history. She turned to Selene. "That would require a fair number of dragon scales to create, and we would need someone with the skill to forge such a blade. Graflex perhaps."

"That would be great." Selene said as Octavian started walking again they followed him while being surrounded by the royal guard. "Maybe Ethan will donate a few scales?"

"I think he would." Kendra couldn't help but smile at her selfless husband; there was still a part of her that found it hard to believe that she was married to him. "However, that could cause problems for him, not to mention being painful. It would be better to find some younger dragon somewhere with a warrant on it for causing trouble and collect the bounty."

"Good point." Selene replied. "It would be good to have some 'travel swords' with us."

"You should perhaps consider keeping a rollable leather shield with you as well." Octavian suggested. "Nothing will preserve your life as well as a shield."

"They're rather difficult to carry well in a dress." Kendra replied. "If you think my sword looks odd with my dress, imagine it with a rollable shield."

"How about a fabric shield?" Selene asked.

Octavian shook his head, though he might've just been scanning the street for threats. "The stiffening enchantment is not enough to stop swords with the thinness of the fabric. You need a cut-resistant enchantment with fabric, and you must also add a self-repairing enchantment or the expense would be untenable. Thus three enchantments are required, but fabirc can only take two."

"And fabric isn't thick enough to be stiff enough at such a large size anyway." Kendra added. "It would fold under a strike."

"Multiple layers." Selene shrugged.

"I would not trust such a shield." Octavian offered. "It would be inferior to a leather shield, fold no better, and likely not rigid enough in combat."

"So have a front and back separated by an inch or two, and then a few strips of enchantment-stiffened fabric shaped like a 'C' between them to connect them, kind of like in a torsion box." The Brazilian woman suggested as Octavian led them through a large gate that led to the small field leading to the castle.

Kendra frowned. "But didn't Octavian just say that more layers wouldn't help?"

"I don't mean in layers, I mean like this." Selene traced three straight lines in the air with her finger to form a blocky 'C' shape. "The top and bottom of the 'C' would give a place to sew it to the shield's front and back, and the vertical part of the 'C' would add alot of rigidity when combined with a stiffening enchantment. It's a bit like an I-beam that way. We could have 'C' shaped pieces around the edges of the shield, and then probably a few more internally for reinforcement. My dad was an engineer for many years before he started doing the dojo full time and I learned a few things; it should work if everything has a stiffening enchantment." She paused. "Then you just need to put a piece of fabric with a cut-resistant enchantment on the front face so it can be used as a shield."

"Hmm." Kendra nodded slowly as she realized what the Brazilian woman had in mind. "That might work."

Octavian looked slightly confused but very interested. "How?"

As Selene started explaining, Kendra started thinking about the ability to walk around with a 'travel sword' and a large shield made of enchanted cloth. She could feel a grin slowly forming as she considered what that would be like and how effectively she could protect her new family with them.

* * *

Sarah carefully counted five doors down from the northwest stairway on the third floor of the dormitories. The hallway was like everything else in Narlotten; clean, neat, tidy, and generally in good repair, which made quite the contrast to Ivernia. Through the windows, she could see the light was starting to shift red as the sun got low in the sky. It wasn't sunset yet, but she was looking forward to seeing the beautiful colors.

She found the correct door, noting that someone had hand-painted an intricate pattern of interlacing vines with beautiful flowers budding on them.

They made her smile.

She hesitated only a moment and then knocked on the door.

No answer.

She waited about ten seconds and then knocked again, this time more firmly.

Still no answer.

Sarah frowned; maybe Amy wasn't home? She waited another thirty seconds and then knocked again, this time more softly. She waited another ten seconds and then decided to try again another time. She had just started to turn when she heard the door's latch click. She turned back to see an eye peeking through the slightly cracked-open door.

"Oh, you're not--" The eye said in a somewhat high-pitched voice. The door opened to reveal that the eye was attached to a face that looked quite relieved. "I thought you were-- Uh, never mind."

"Hi, I'm Sarah." She gave a slightly awkward wave.

"I'm Amy." The girl replied, then an awkward silence fell.

Amy was slightly shorter than Sarah's 5' 4", but not by much. Amy was reasonably pretty but not excessively so. Her figure was average in most ways and she looked like she was in her early twenties. She had dark brown hair that fell down straight, but with a ribbon to keep it off of her face like a headband would. The bow in the ribbon was tied with a beautiful knot that had an artsy flair that Sarah very much liked. She made a mental note to ask how to tie it later.

"So, I heard you like to paint?" Sarah asked

"I do." Amy replied, still standing at the door.

Another awkward silence.

"I don't know if you remember, but we've met before." Sarah said.

"I do." Amy suddenly stood a little stiffer and there was a note of caution in her tone.

"I was just wondering, do you need any help?"

Amy stared at her for several long seconds, then pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Can you stay right there, I want to show you something."

"Uh, sure." The innkeeper's daughter nodded.

Amy closed the door, only to reopen it perhaps thirty seconds later holding a painting. The painting was of a flower, but it was quite crudely done. The perspective was all wrong and the flower itself looked less like a flower and more like... like... she wasn't sure. She was mostly able to tell that it was a flower because of the stem, which was also crude. It didn't look half as nice as the flowers on the door and yet Amy was cradling this painting like it was precious to her.

"This painting has a special place in my heart and I just wanted to know what you thought of it." The girl said.

Sarah bit her lip.

It wasn't a good painting.

It might be good for young child, but it wasn't good for someone like Amy who clearly could paint far better than that. A large part of her wanted to say that she liked it just to be nice. The rest of her was reminding her of Illuminar's command in the Book of Light to not lie. And if she said she liked it, it woulddefinitely be a lie. She liked art as a rule, but this picture was terrible.

"It's... um..." Sarah hesitated. "I think I like your newer stuff better, but I'm glad you have a picture that means so much to you."

Amy frowned. "But do you like it? More importantly, do you think it's a good painting?"

Sarah hesitated, Illuminar's command not to lie in the back of her mind. "I don't... I guess if I'm being honest, then it's... well I don't think it's... well, it's not very good."

Sarah had been expecting Amy to be upset, or hurt, or sad, by her comment. Apparently she was none of those things because she instantly got a wide smile on her face.

"Come in." She said cheerfully as she stepped back and opened the door in an undeniably welcoming way.

"Um, okay?" She walked into Amy's room and felt her cheeks pull into a wide smile at what she saw. The room was like an explosion of art on every surface. There was hardly a surface of the walls that didn't have a painting on it. It was clear that she had the room to herself because one of the beds clearly hadn't been made and the other three had stuff on them, mostly art supplies and some artsy clothes that weren't folded.

Honestly, it was a chaotically beautiful mess.

Sarah loved it.

It reminded her of what her room used to look like before her mother died and she'd gotten her problem. She had completely forgotten what that was like. Looking at Amy's room, she felt like a long-dormant part of her was waking up. That part of her was veritably singing at the beautifully artistic chaos around her. Suddenly, she wanted to dance, sing, and draw all at the same time.

"I love it." Sarah said as she looked around a second time.

"Really?" Amy asked. "It's a bit messy."

"Yes, but it's a beautiful mess." The innkeeper's daughter did a slightly 'dancy' turn as she looked around the room.

"You're a good person." Amy said matter-of-factly.

"I am?"

Amy nodded.

"How do you know? We just met."

"This painting." The other girl moved it in her arms slightly. "I named it 'honesty' and it has a special place in my heart because I ask people I meet what they think of it and their response tells me who they are."

Sarah cocked her head to one side. "How?"

"Well, if they tell me they like it then I know they won't be honest with me." Amy replied. "And if they are mean about it not being good, then... well, then I know something about them too." The girl looked up at her and smiled. "You were honest, but kind about it too. You're a good person."

"Oh, thanks." Sarah smiled, thinking that the girl did have a good system worked out. "That's pretty smart."

"Thank you." Amy smiled back. "So, what did you want?"

"Well, I wanted to know if you needed any help." Sarah explained. "After we met the other day..." She trailed off as Amy's happy expression fell.

"I don't think you can help." She said while looking at the floor.

"Why not?"

Amy hesitated for several seconds, looked at her 'honesty' painting, then finally spoke. "Because those girls are mean. I told one of them that they were mean once, and they..." She swallowed. "Well, there's a reason I don't have any roommates."

"Oh." Sarah frowned. "What did they do?"

"They..." Amy trailed off. "Can we not talk about it?"

"Um, sure." Sarah nodded, not sure how to proceed. She wanted to help Amy but didn't know how to if she wouldn't let her help.

There was a slightly awkward silence and then Amy spoke again. "Um, you probably should go; they aren't very nice to people who visit me."

"I'm not worried." Sarah replied truthfully. Her problem might be terrible but it also protected her quite well.

"Still, you should go. You're a good person and I don't want to make anything bad happen to you."

"You wouldn't make anything bad happen." The innkeeper's daughter replied. "They might do something, but it wouldn't be your fault."

Amy gave her a small but skeptical smile that was also half a grimace.

"I can go." Sarah said, taking a last look around the room; it still made her smile. Then she remembered something. "You paint decorations for a few coppers, right?"

"I do." She nodded.

"Well, what if I hired you to decorate mine and Fiona's room?"

Amy smiled and her whole demeanor brightened. "You share a room with Fiona?"

Sarah nodded.

"I knew you were a good person." Amy's smile widened, seemingly at the mention of Sarah's copper-haired roommate. "Okay, I can do that. What did you want painted?"

"Uh, I don't know." The innkeeper's daughter cocked her head to one side. "How about you come over later tonight and the three of us can come up with something?"

"Okay, but I haven't eaten yet. Can I come over after dinner?" Amy asked.

"Sure." Sarah smiled at her.

She left not long after, throwing a last look back at the room that made her heart want to sing. She wanted a room like that someday; a room full of life and vibrant color with beautiful paintings on the wall. Of course, she needed to learn how to paint first. She'd done it some before her mother had died, but less afterwards and not at all since she got her problem.

She wanted to get back to it.

As she walked down the hall towards the stairs leading to her and Fiona's room, she noticed someone watching her from ahead. Whoever it was only had a single eye peeking out from behind the corner. Sarah waved and the eye disappeared instantly. She ran to the stairway but whoever it was had already left.

Hmm.

Was someone watching her?

Or maybe Amy?

* * *

Rachel could feel the waking world starting to catch up with her and internally groaned. Her entire body felt sluggish from the laudanum, like someone had replaced her muscles with noodles and her bones with lead. Her two fingers still hurt, but a quick check showed that they had been fully healed. In fact, they had been healed almost perfectly. Rachel herself couldn't have done a better job on her own body, and she definitely couldn't heal someone else even one-tenth that well.

Tee was truly an amazing healer.

As the redhead started paying more attention to her surroundings, she became aware of a slightly sweaty hand holding hers. She was certain it was Alana's hand and that thought made her heart swell.

*My lord?* She thought directly to him.

*Oh thank God.* Ethan thought back to her. *Are you okay?*

*Groggy from the laudanum but otherwise fine. How are you?* She asked, remembering the sensation that he'd been feeling all day. *Has anything happened with what you were feeling?*

*Not yet, but it's still there on the edge of my perception. I've got a bad feeling that I'm in for a rough fight once I'm alone.*

*I wish I could help my lord.*

*I wish you could helpsafely.* He replied. *Take care of yourself beautiful; I don't know what I would do if I lost you.*

*I know the feeling.* She replied pointedly. *Please be careful.*

*I will.*

With the conversation somewhat ended, Rachel took a few minutes to magically clear the remnants of the laudanum from her system, When that was done, she gave the hand holding hers a gentle squeeze.

"Rachel?" Alana said from beside her.

"Hi." She replied, still not having opened her eyes.

"Oh thank Illuminar." The wood elf said, and the relief in her tone was obvious. "I was so worried."

"I can't tell." Rachel replied ironically, then opened her eyes.

She was in a stone room draped with Timarou's colors of blue and white. The room wasn't large and there were several other beds in it, all unoccupied. It looked like a small hospital, emphasis on 'small'. Perhaps more like a clinic, but even that sounded large for what it was.

"Shara and Lyra insisted we bring you to the castle for safety and they posted a guard outside the room just in case." Alana explained. "They had their personal healer look at you too. He was impressed by Taloni's work."

"She's not the only one of our husband's wives that's impressive." Rachel said while looking pointedly at her best friend. It had sort of slipped out, but the redhead made no attempt to stop her words. She had almost died today; she wanted to tell Alana how amazing she was.