A Dragon's Tale Ch. 54

*That's strange.* Taloni mused.

*But, we have a job.* Alana thought to everyone after a moment. *We need to 'get Ethan there' so we can check on Sarah.*

Ethan couldn't help but smile.

He knew that Alana wasn't as concerned about Sarah as her words might indicate. She was making Sarah a priority for her because she was a priority for him.

*Have I told you I love you recently?* He thought to her privately.

*Every time you look at me.* The wood elf replied, and he could almost hear the smile in her tone. She then thought to everyone. *So, who wants to start?*

* * *

Alana dropped the last few feet to the ground from the Argo's rope ladder and stepped aside to make room for Ethan, who was climbing down after her. The fact he hadn't insisted on going down first so he could see up her dress as she climbed down was probably the biggest indication that he was preoccupied. Selene was already on the ground, having gone first.

"You sure you don't want anyone else to come?" Selene asked.

"I think we'll be okay; a lot of us going would attract too much attention." Ethan replied, then thought to everyone. *Beth, see anything?*

*Nothing out of the ordinary Dominus.* The blonde replied. *I did a quick circuit and didn't see anything unusual, but I don't see Sarah either.

"Nothing out of the ordinary is good, not seeing Sarah is... less good." Selene frowned.

"Come on." Ethan started walking fast enough that the wood elf needed to jog slightly to keep up. She didn't mind being short but it could be annoying sometimes. Ethan noticed her gait and slowed a bit so she didn't have such a hard time keeping up.

"Thanks." She smiled at him.

"You're welcome." He replied, but his mind was obviously elsewhere.

"I'm sure she's fine." Alana offered.

He looked at her and grimaced. "I hope so."

"You don't think she is?"

He hesitated. "I've got a really bad feeling about this."

She put a hand on his arm, hoping he would take it as comforting. He gave her a smile that was half-grateful and half-worried.

Alana didn't know what to think.

For that matter, she wasn't sure how to feel.

She would be lying if she was entirely at ease about this turn of events, and not just because Sarah appeared to be missing. Her concerns about Ethan being attracted to the innkeeper's daughter had never quite disappeared. Gotten better? Yes. But not disappeared.

*You okay?* Ethan asked her privately.

*As good as I can be.* She replied honestly.

*I know I said it before, but let me repeat it.* Ethan replied. *I really like Sarah, but I love you. You're my wife, she isn't. I willnever do anything with her or any other woman that would jeopardize our marriage, or even cause you emotional pain. You're my wife, I love you, and you come first."

Alana's heart immediately felt lighter. *Thank you for reminding me.* She hesitated, then added. *If Sarah wasn't betrothed and was willing, would you want to marry her?*

*Yes, but not if it would harm my relationship with you.* He looked at her seriously. *And I mean that.*

*I know.* She smiled at him, feeling much better. *Nothing will ever change how you feel about me, will it?*

*Of course my feelings for you will change.* He replied with a slight smile. *I plan on being more in love with you the longer we're married.*

She chuckled. *I'm okay with that.*

*Good.* He smiled at her.

"Look alive folks." Selene said. "We're here."

They were.

The outpost looked almost exactly the same as it did before, only much busier. Whereas before it looked like very few people traveled through the outpost, now it was different. Before, many small plants had started sprouting up in the middle of the road and now they were gone, trampled into oblivion by the increased traffic. It was after lunch and yet a few people were milling about outside the inn.

"It used to take work to get people to stop in." Selene said as they got closer. "Something significant has changed."

"I can only think of one thing that would bring the people back." Ethan said darkly.

The three of them exchanged worried looks.

They entered the inn and it looked exactly as Alana remembered it. It appeared that everything there had been kept in service a little past its prime. The carpet was a little threadbare and you could see obvious signs of wear, though nothing was so badly worn as to be unusable. There was a fire in the hearth, but not a large one.

Alana recognized the innkeeper from her previous visit, though this time he was much more active. Whereas before he had mostly sat in a chair and grumbled, now he was up attending to his guests. He had a jovial smile on his face but she noticed that it didn't reach his eyes. There were a dozen people in the inn, which was a lot different from what Selene had described before.

*See anything Beth?* Alana thought to the group chat.

*Nothing unusual.* The blonde replied.

"Festus." Selene called loudly, probably to cut through the din of conversation.

The innkeeper turned towards them, then did a double take. "Selene? You're back."

"I am, but where is Sarah?"

The man frowned, then nodded his head towards a corner of the room. Ethan, Alana, and Selene all met him there. The air of joviality disappeared the moment his back was to the room. His brows were furrowed and his eyes full of concern as he looked between the three of them with a grimace, finally settling on Alana.

"My Sarah said you were one of the prophet's wives."

"I am." She nodded.

Festus looked at Ethan. "Would... would you be the prophet?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

"You have to save my little girl." Festus whispered, his voice cracking slightly. "The Ivernians took her almost three weeks ago now."

"Three weeks!" Ethan hissed in a low voice, though at no one in particular. "She's been missing for three weeks?!"

"Almost." Festus nodded. "I doubt anyone could send her to meet Illuminar with her problem, and she had that lady from Narlotten with her defending her so I doubt she's come to real harm, but..." The innkeeper trailed off as he looked at the Argo's crew.

"What lady from Narlotten?" Ethan asked, the dread in his tone mirroring what Alana was feeling.

"Uh, lady... ek-something."

"Ekthros?" Alana breathed, her eyes widening.

"That's it." Festus nodded. "Lady Ekthros."

Holy...

Alana covered her mouth with her hand, scarcely believing what she was hearing. Her heart actually seemed to stop beating for a moment as the enormity of that sank in.

*What's wrong?* Rachel's voice came to the group chat.

*Lady Ekthros has Sarah.* Beth replied, probably having heard the conversation while on the Astral Plane.

"Fuck!" Ethan hissed under his breath as he clenched his fists.

*The demon-possessed soldiers.* Rachel thought to everyone. *Lady Ekthros is a telepath; she must've read Sarah's mind to figure out what happened when she was possessed so she could recreate it.*

*It would be hard to find that information anywhere.* Kendra added. *The Aldmiri destroy things like that whenever and wherever they find them.*

*Well, that solves that question.* Beth pointed out, but as she continued her tone was nervous, bordering on anxious. *But what about Sarah?*

"Where?" Ethan said to Festus. "Where did they take her?"

"Rindrin followed them from a distance." Sarah's father replied. "He said they went to a military outpost but I don't know where. Rindrin will know though."

Ethan hesitated for a moment and glanced Alana, probably concerned about how she felt about this.

"Go." She said without a moment's hesitation. "Go get her."

"You're the perfect woman." He replied with a half-smile. He nodded once and then strode purposefully away, exiting the inn without another word.

"She'll be okay." Festus breathed a sigh of relief. "The prophet is looking for her so she'll be okay." The man took another deep breath and let it out slowly. Unless Alana missed her guess, his eyes had gotten slightly watery and his small smile touched his eyes.

*Um, I noticed something.* Beth thought to everyone. *I'm in Sarah's room and there's some paper on her makeshift nightstand, but it's folded up and would be a real pain for me to unfold it.*

*I'll be right there.* Alana replied, then looked at Festus. "Could we take a look at her room?"

"Please." The man nodded. "Anything that might help; just let me know and I'll do it."

"We will." Selene said, then led the wood elf through the kitchen door and to the door of Sarah's room.

Alana opened it and looked around.

It was as tiny as she remembered, being square and only six feet on a side. The bed was just a mattress lying on the floor, although it was neatly made and the blankets had a pretty pattern sown into them with yarn. There was a small, one-foot-square window with some drapes that looked like they'd been made from old, threadbare clothes, but they looked nice. There was also a small vase on the windowsill with some flowers that had long since wilted.

It looked extremely nice considering how poor Sarah was.

"I wasn't here long, but I have a lot of fond memories of this room." Selene mused, then looked at Alana. "Tell me that Ethan is going to bring her back."

"He'll bring her back." Alana wasn't quite as confident as she sounded, but she knew Ethan; he wouldn't stop looking.

"Yeah, I hope so too." The Brazilian woman took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You know, I'm really starting to see why you all hate Lady Ekthros so much."

Alana nodded vehemently and then looked at Sarah's makeshift dresser. It was a simple flat-topped wooden chest that likely held Sarah's clothes and personal items. On top of the chest was a very small painting of a woman who was probably Sarah's mother. Next to that was a piece of paper, which Alana picked up to look at.

"It's her measurements." The wood elf said after unfolding it. "Looks like she was being measured for a dress or something. Probably by a professional tailor too; these measurements are perfect and detailed."

"Oh." Selene sighed. "I suppose it was too much to hope that Lady Ekthros had written down her evil plans and left them in Sarah's room for us to find." She shook her head. "I guess we should be going."

"Probably." Alana was slightly preoccupied by the paper in front of her. The measurements were both precise and complete. With measurements like this, anyone with some skill in sewing could make a dress that would fit Sarah perfectly. She really should put it back, but she didn't want to for some reason.

She wasn't sure why, but she didn't.

"You ready?" Selene asked as she stepped halfway out of the tiny room.

Alana took a half step in that direction, then stopped and frowned. She looked at the piece of paper again, trying to figure out why she was so reluctant to leave it behind.

Selene looked at her, then at the paper, then at her again. "Do you want Sarah's measurements for some reason?"

Alana hesitated, not sure that she wanted to voice the thought that was running through her head. It made perfect sense to her, but she thought it would sound silly if she said it out loud. Well, Rachel wouldn't think she was being silly, but anyone else might.

After a few moments, Selene got a sly smile on her face. "You're thinking Sarah will need a dress like the rest of Ethan's wives."

"Is it that obvious?"

Selene raised an eyebrow.

Alana bit her lip. "Is that stupid?"

The Brazilian woman shrugged. "Stupid? No. Rather presumptuous? Probably. Likely to happen? Definitely."

"Really?"

"So, Sarah had a mini-crush on Ethan before she met him." Selene started explaining. "Then she met him without knowing it was him and it turned into a huge crush. Then he was super nice to her after she attacked him and she fell head-over-heels for him. Frankly, I think she'd marry him the moment they saw each other again. You know, if her father allowed it." She rolled her eyes.

"So it's not stupid?"

"Maybe a little stupid." She winked with a grin. "But it'll also probably come in handy soon. I'd bet everything that I've ever owned that Sarah's birthday is Septas seventh."

"Not Setas sixth?" Alana asked, thinking that Ethan had five wives so the sixth day of the sixth month was far more likely.

"Setas?" Selene seemed caught slightly off guard. "Wouldn't it be 'Sextas'?"

She shook her head. "It was at one point, but I'm sure you can imagine the jokes." Alana chuckled. "It was changed to 'Setas' hundreds of years ago, maybe more."

"Oh, well, I bet Sarah's birthday is either Setas sixth or Septas seventh then."

Alana tapped her foot on the floor, looking at the paper and frowning. She didn't know when Sarah's birthday was and it seemed strange to take her measurements. But still...

"I can ask Festus if you can have the paper." Selene offered. "I'm sure he wouldn't care."

"Probably not." The wood elf hesitated.

"But..." The caramel-haired beauty prompted.

"But I'm really overthinking this, aren't I?"

Selene raised an eyebrow, then nodded.

"I feel like I'll regret it if I don't have this." Alana finally said, indicating the paper.

"Then I'll go ask Festus for you." She walked away, leaving Alana standing in Sarah's room holding her measurements.

"I really hope you're a good person and I won't regret this." She whispered to the paper as she looked around the tiny room. She was reasonably sure that Sarah was, but couldn't be entirely sure. The room had obviously been put together with a lot of love and care, Selene thought the world of her, and Alana's own impression had been good as well.

"He says it's fine." Selene said as she returned. "What's wrong?"

"Am I making a mistake?" She finally said. "First telling him to go get her and now with this?" She waved the paper. "He... he won't end up liking her more than me, will he?"

Selene closed her eyes and slowly shook her head with a smile. "He literally just called you the perfect woman. I have never seen a man more hopelessly devoted to a woman than Ethan is to you." She paused. "Well, to all of his wives and you're one of them. I'm pretty sure you would need to turn into Hitler or Stalin-- Uh, I mean a mass murdering psychopath for Sarah to even get on the scoreboard. Trust me, nothing's gonna come in between the two of you."

Alana took a deep breath and then breathed a sigh of relief. "You're sure?"

The Brazilian woman nodded. "Positive. And if you think otherwise, you're either blind or dumb." She winked.

The brunette chuckled, then she carefully folded the paper, put it in her pocket, and nodded. "Okay. Let's go."

* * *

Ethan stalked into the blacksmith's shop, banging the door open as he did so. It probably wasn't the best way to approach things but he didn't care at this moment. The shop itself was a perfect example of what he'd always imagined a blacksmith's shop would be. There were various farming implements everywhere, a small assortment of tools, and of course a large forge. The blacksmith himself was standing near a rough wooden table with many tools on it and examining something that looked like a horseshoe.

"Where did they take Sarah?" Ethan asked without preamble.

Rindrin looked up at him and frowned. "Who wants to know?"

Ethan clicked his disguise gem off. He was wearing his armor and he imagined it would be hard to mistake him for anyone else; how many dragons had white armor?

The blacksmith narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on the horseshoe, also resting his other hand near a hammer that was on the table.

"And why do you want to know where Sarah is?" Rindrin asked.

"Lady Ekthros took her." Ethan growled, then decided to adopt some swearing that her betrothed would be familiar with. "Only Illuminar knows what that fucking Saidow spawn might do to her."

The other man grunted. "You're not wantin' to hurt her on account of her problem?"

"Fuck no!"

Rindrin grunted. "So then, you heard about her problem and you is thinkin' you can help?"

"Honestly, I don't give a flying fuck about her problem right now. I just want to make sure she keeps breathing." Ethan tried to keep his tone even, but Lady Ekthros was already the better part of three weeks ahead of him; he didn't want to waste a moment.

The blacksmith got a smirk on his face and he shook his head. "I never thought the prophet of Illuminar -- blessed be He -- would be sweet on another man's wife.

"Betrothed." Ethan corrected. "And if you care about herat all you'll tell me where she is right now."

The blacksmith eyed him for a moment before shaking his head slowly. "You is mad right now and mad men make terrible decisions." He indicated a bench in the shop. "Sit down a spell until you've cooled your temper and then I'll tell you. Right now, you might do more harm than good and I'll not let you being rash hurt Sarah."

Ethan stared.

He could feel the beginnings of a growl forming in his throat, but the memory of when Beth had actuallydied in Arcanum did a good job of helping him bite back a retort. As much as he hated to admit it, the blacksmith was entirely correct.

He took a few long, slow deep breaths.

"Sit down a spell, ain't no sense standing around." Rindrin said as he grabbed the horseshoe with his tongs and stuck it into the hot coals of the forge.

Ethan did so, trying to remember that the blacksmith did have a point and that beating the information out of him was a bad idea.

Several minutes later, Rindrin pulled the horseshoe out of the forge and took several measure swings with the hammer. "I'm glad you is here." He said as he inspected his work. "I was starting to think Sarah might be in trouble, her problem notwithstanding." He set it down, grabbed another horseshoe, and stuck the second one in the fire.

"Why do you want to marry her?" Ethan asked.

Rindrin shrugged. "Illuminar's Book of Light tells us to watch out for them folk who can't watch out for themselves. Festus ain't in the best of health, so someone needs to make sure that Sarah is taken care of, on account of her being so naïve and trusting. There ain't no one else going to do it, so I will. Plus, she's a good girl; she'll make a good wife."

Ethan tried to find some angle that would make Rindrin look like a bad man for that but he couldn't. Frankly, the man was being downright noble if you took the marriage customs of the Ten Kingdoms into account. Ethan hated that. Well, he liked it for Sarah's sake but it would be a lot easier to hate the man if he was an ass or a terrible guy.

He wasn't.

"Maybe she could just become less naïve." Ethan finally said.

"That right there is a hard job." The blacksmith took the horseshoe out of the forge and tapped it lightly with his hammer. "People ain't like iron. You can't just stick 'em in the forge and hammer them into shape, 'specially not a sensitive girl like Sarah. It takes some serious hurt to beat the naïve out of someone and I ain't going to do that to anyone, 'specially her."

"Fair." Ethan nodded, feeling somewhat calmer.

About a minute later, Rindrin looked at him. "They rode most of the night, but a lot of it was tryin' to either throw off pursuers or else confuse them two ladies they nabbed. There's an Ivernian military outpost about five miles southwest of here. They took her there and loaded her up onto an airship, which then left. It was facing east when it left, but I reckon that's because of the dock because it started turnin' towards the south. It was out of sight before it stopped turning though, so I don't know where they was headed."

"Thanks." Ethan turned to leave, but the other man's voice stopped him.

"Prophet."

"What?" He turned back around.

"She'll probably cause me a whole heap of trouble after marrying her -- what with her problem and all -- but you bring her back safe and sound now, you hear?"