A Dragon's Tale Ch. 55

He got slightly choked up.

"We'll find her." Alana said. "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but we will."

"You're leading the charge to do so." He pointed out.

"I like to think of myself as one of those 'cheerleaders' that you mentioned." She replied. "I just need a short skirt."

"I like your current skirt." He quipped.

She looked down at her naked torso. "What this old thing?" She winked.

Everyone chuckled.

"Master, I really do think that Sarah is okay." Taloni said after a moment. "I feel it like how I felt that you would marry Kendra. I really do think she is okay."

Ethan took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You're sure?"

"Yes Master." She nodded.

He nodded slowly, feeling better. He didn't know why, but when Tee got strong feelings like that she was almost never wrong. He could tell from their bond that she did feel strongly about it which went a long way towards putting his heart at ease.

"Why didn't you say so before?" Beth asked the Fey teen.

"Because I didn't feel like that until this morning while I was praying for her." Tee replied.

Ethan took a deep breath. "Okay, that's good enough for me."

Everyone else voiced general agreement.

With that weight on his mind somewhat lessened, he turned to other things. "I really should get up, eat, and go help Kendra track down that dragon. There's a woman who might be having a very rough time of it right now."

They all agreed and started getting up.

* * *

*Drago, I've tracked the dragon to its lair.* Kendra thought to everyone. She'd slept the previous night, though not as well as she would've with Ethan there, and picked up the trail after waking up a half hour ago. Her search had just borne fruit.

*Okay, I just got up.* He replied. *Also, Tee had a bit of intuition this morning.*

They explained, after which Kendra replied. *I'm glad to hear that.*

*Me too.* Her husband thought to everyone, and he did sound better as he continued. *I'll eat breakfast and then I'll fly to you. See you soon.*

*Looking forward to it Drago.* Kendra settled a little more comfortably into the lookout position she'd found and waited. While waiting, she tried rather hard to pray for Selene instead of only worrying about her friend. She was only partially successful.

* * *

Ethan stepped out into the morning air, noting that it wasn't as warm as usual. It wasn't cool either, but the ever-present warm summer air seemed to have dipped a few degrees this morning. His wives followed him out and Serif and Raklan were by the breakfast fire, but Anthiel and Myla were nowhere to be seen.

"Where are Anthiel and Myla?" He asked as he started getting his food.

"Here." The high elf said as she topped the stairs, followed by the dusky-skinned woman he had rescued the previous night.

Myla walked forward with a lot of poise and grace, stopped several feet short of the others, did an obviously formal bow that was also half curtsy, then straightened up and spoke in her slight accent. "Hail, I am Ekdala MetTatian Mylera de Sekoral, but my Friend-Name is Myla."

Rachel stood and did the exact same bow almost flawlessly. "Hail Myla, I am Ejder DalEthan Rachel de Karnas, but my Friend-Name is Rachel. Your presence brings joy to our home and lightness to our hearts."

Myla beamed.

Ethan got the distinct impression that Rachel had just aced a formal greeting that was traditional among Myla's people.

"Your greeting brings joy to my heart." Myla replied to Rachel with a smile, then addressed everyone else. "But I am in your home; please introduce yourselves as you would normally."

Everyone did, though Taloni outdid everyone else by offering a hug to the gorgeous woman and she seemed pleased to accept it.

"Please, take a seat and get some food." Ethan said.

"If you want to wear something else, I can get or make something for you." Alana offered.

Ethan thought that was a good idea. While Myla's dress covered all of the important bits, it was rather on the skimpy side and definitely had a 'harem' vibe about it.

"I have a few dresses which should fit you." Anthiel offered.

"That would bring joy to my heart." Myla smiled. She hesitated and some of the joy on her face faltered. "Might I eat first?"

"Eat as much as you want." Ethan said.

"We have plenty." Alana assured her. "And we can make more if we run out."

Myla smiled again, but it wasn't quite the beaming smile from before. She started eating and while she looked happy enough, she rarely made eye contact with anyone and spoke even less. Occasionally someone would move quickly or there would be an unexpected sound and she would jump slightly.

*She's been through hell.* Ethan thought to everyone.

*Maybe we can help her Master?* Tee suggested.

*I hope so.* He nodded, then spoke aloud. "I need to get going soon."

Myla looked up at him in alarm.

"My other wife is out tracking a dragon who kidnapped someone." He explained. "I'm going to help her kill it, free the someone, and I should be back in a few hours."

"It would bring joy to my heart to see your safe return." Myla said, though he couldn't tell if she was being sincere or if it sounded rehearsed. It might've been either but it was hard to tell.

"Master, should I set course for Dotmier now that you are back from Paliso?" Taloni asked. " Tesselae is almost on the way."

"Good idea." He nodded once he'd finished chewing. "I promised Matthew that I would be back by the time he challenges that Luminar and we're already cutting it close."

"I will then." The Fey teen smiled at him.

He noticed that she had asked if she should get the Argo started, not if Anthiel should. He had noticed her doing more of the piloting lately, but it seemed like she was becoming very comfortable with piloting the Argo by herself. He smiled at that; she had come a long way from the timid girl he'd married.

Once he finished eating, he made sure he was properly armed, kissed all his wives, and then took to the skies. Once he had himself oriented, he thought to everyone. *Did Myla sound a little odd when she wished for my safe return?*

*I think she spoke truthfully but had rehearsed it as a lie so many times that it sounded strange when it came out.* Rachel replied.

*You sound like you have some experience with that.* He pointed out.

*My father wasn't always easy to live with.* She replied, but didn't explain further.

* * *

Kendra smiled as her husband came into sight, flying just over the treetops and landing right next to her.

"There's my good girl." He grinned.

She couldn't help but smile back at him, even despite Selene being gone and how silly it was for him to think that she was a good person.

He looked at her pointedly. "Youare a good person."

"I'm glad you think so Drago." She replied.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and sighed while slowly shaking his head. "One of these days, I hope you see yourself like I do; like all of us do."

"That would be nice."

"Come here." He pulled her close, kissed her tenderly, then looked around. "Okay, what are we dealing with?"

"Single dragon, almost certainly not old enough to breathe fire yet." Kendra launched into her report. "He's taken refuge in a small cave in the nearby hill. No eyes on the woman, but the dragon has brought some fruit back to the cave so it's almost certain that she's still alive. The lair is partially concealed by a copse of trees and our best approach vector is from the southeast. There's a small rise that will conceal us almost the entire way."

Ethan grinned at her.

"What?" She asked when she saw the grin on his face.

"You are adorable when you're all business, you know that?"

She tried unsuccessfully not to smile at that. "He's standard mature size 2, so slightly smaller and slimmer than you are."

Ethan put on a mock-frown. "Do these scales make me look fat?"

She raised her eyebrow.

"Nevermind." He chuckled. "Anything else I should know?"

"One personal observation." She replied. "He made some really dumb choices about covering his tracks. I'm not sure he's fighting with a full rack of weapons, if you know what I mean."

"I won't complain about a dumb opponent for a change." He nodded. "Okay, let's go."

They set off, leaving the cover Kendra was using and heading towards the copse of trees where the dragon's cave was. The land here was lush and green like the rest of Ivernia, but there were noticeably fewer trees. She and her husband double-timed it across the meadow, crossing the mile or so to the copse quickly.

They slowed down as they got closer and Ethan dropped to all fours. It was amazing how easily he seemed to stalk forward that way, like some great cat on the prowl. They reached the copse without incident and began to climb the small, rocky hill. It only stuck up about twenty feet from the surrounding plain and the copse only covered half of that.

Once they were above the entrance and hidden behind some scraggly brush, Kendra thought to him. *How did you want to approach this Drago?*

*You're the dragon huntress, recommendations?*

*For weaker dragons, the direct approach usually works best, especially if they can't breathe fire yet.* She replied. *It's best to wait until it leaves so we can get between it and its lair. Otherwise, it will often hunker down and you have to either engage it in its lair -- which is a bad idea -- or starve it out.*

*We don't have time for that, the waiting game it is.* He replied.

*Remember that we want the hide and scales, so try to do as little damage to them as possible.* She reminded him.

*So kill the evil dragon without hurting him; gotcha.* He winked.

She rolled her eyes.

Then they waited.

* * *

"Fiona."

She had just finished kneading a large batch of dough in the kitchens when Marge called her name.

"Yes?" The copper-haired woman looked at her.

"Come here." The head cook waved her over.

Fiona knocked the excess flour from her hands and walked over to her. "Yes?"

"Sir Warrick sent a messenger; he wants you to meet him for tea this afternoon in the Gibstine drawing room." Marge said, eyeing Fiona with something that looked like a cross between curiosity and suspicion.

"But why?"

"I don't know." Marge shrugged. "But there have been rumors that Lord Delmar had a meeting last night on the Helene with a woman whose description sounds suspiciously like yours."

"Oh." Fiona frowned.

She thought that perhaps the rumors would happen, but Sir Warrick wanting a meeting? He was one of the most senior members of Lord Delmar's court. She supposed that Lord Delmar might've told him about his proposal, but that didn't seem likely.

Marge nodded. "You're excused to get cleaned up."

"Thank you." Fiona replied, not sure what to make of this development. She supposed that she'd find out what he wanted at teatime.

* * *

Ethan waited with Kendra nearly two hours before they saw the dragon leave the cave on all fours, shaking its head as it went and muttering something under its breath, though what was anyone's guess. Ethan waited until it was a fair distance from the cave before stalking forward on all fours. He made it to above the cave's entrance and dropped down, making sure to make some noise as he landed.

The other dragon whipped around.

It was a somewhat skinny dragon. His scales were a medium gray that was several shades lighter than Ethan's own. Something about the face and skull shape seemed off as well. Ethan couldn't place it, but something about this dragon just looked a little... off.

It snarled at him. "She's mine!"

"She's not yours, you kidnapped her." He replied calmly. He would've ordinarily drawn his war sword, but something told him that his dagger would be a better choice since this was likely to get up close and personal. Plus, he was trying not to hurt the hide or scales very much.

The other dragon started walking towards him and again, Ethan got the impression that something about this dragon was a bit off. He walked like... like... Well, this dragon reminded Ethan of a jock he'd known in high school who hit like a freight train on the football field but needed a lot of tutoring to maintain the minimum GPA to play.

The other dragon charged at him.

Ethan readied his dagger and activated his enhanced reflexes to time his attack properly. The other dragon leapt at him, apparently heedless of the fact that Ethan was both armed and armored. Ethan waited until the other dragon was entirely in the air and thus unable to change direction before he whipped his dagger out and up, aiming to stab up from the underside of the other dragon's jaw.

It worked.

The dagger smoothly punctured through the soft underside of his attacker's jaw and there was a slight 'bump' as he felt it punch through the underside of the skull and into the brain. His attacker hit him not as a snarling dragon but rather as dragon-shaped dead weight. Ethan turned slightly and levered the body over so it dropped to the ground without taking him with it.

"Wow." He said as he looked at the now-dead dragon. "It never goes that smoothly."

"Oh my God!" A feminine voice gushed from inside the cave. A young woman who was probably in her early or mid-twenties ran out of the cave, though she had a rope tied tightly around her ankle. She had to duck to leave because the ceiling was probably only five feet high and -- like Myla -- this woman was about Selene's height.

She was also gorgeous.

Drop dead gorgeous.

For the second time in as many days, he took a moment to absorb a vision of feminine perfection in front of him. Unlike Myla, this girl was incredibly fair-skinned, even more so than Rachel. She had platinum blonde hair that fell in perfect waves and a round face that was a perfect combination of gorgeous and cute. Gorgeously cute? If someone lined up Selene, Myla, and this woman and forced him to pick the most beautiful, he would probably ask for some dice to help him pick.

She had a wide, dazzling smile on her face and certainly didn't look like she'd just been repeatedly raped.

"You're the prophet!" She gushed. "I never thought..." Her eyes went wide. "Of course you're the prophet, you killed him so easily!"

"And you aren't bothered by that?" Kendra asked from above her. Ethan and the dragon huntress had agreed that she would remain in reserve in case a surprise attack was warranted on their foe. Thankfully it hadn't been.

She whipped around to look at Kendra, then Ethan, then at Kendra again. "You're one of his wives, aren't you?!"

Kendra nodded.

"Oh my word, this is the greatest thing ever!" The woman was bouncing on the balls of her feet and had a look of absolutely undisguised and unconcealed glee.

"Are you okay?" Ethan asked.

"I'm fine." She stared at him. "I can't believe I'm meeting the prophet!"

"Did he rape you?" Kendra asked without preamble.

"No, he was pretty stupid and easy to manipulate." She rolled her eyes. "All he could think about was getting me pregnant so I told him I was at the wrong part of my cycle and that the women in my family needed to eat a special fruit blend for a month before trying or it wouldn't work."

Ethan raised his eyebrow.

"He wasreally stupid." She chuckled.

"All it could 'think' about?" Kendra repeated the woman's words. "How did you know what it was thinking?"

"Oh." She went slightly pink in her porcelain cheeks but her enthusiasm wasn't dampened. "I'm kind of a little telepathic."

"A little?" Ethan looked at her.

"Okay, a lot." She grinned. "Daddy says I'll never get married; I keep seeing what all the boys are thinking and it's never good." She made a face like someone had just stuck manure under her nose. "Anyway, I know exactly what to say to drive them away and Daddy can't figure out how I'm doing it." She giggled.

"Gotcha." Ethan said to the woman, then looked at Kendra.

His fifth wife had gone stony-faced as she thought to him. *Legal expertise from working with her lawyer father, telepathy, and she's gorgeous?*

He shrugged. *Yeah, that's weird.*

"Why don't you take her home; I'll take care of this." Kendra indicated the dragon's body. He couldn't tell if it was a practical suggestion or if the raven-haired woman was annoyed.

He gave her a thumbs up.

* * *

"Alana, may I ask you a question?"

The wood elf turned to see Myla standing near her not quite meeting her eye. Alana had been practicing with her travel bow for the last hour, determined to never be forced to take the 'safe' shot again like she'd been forced to do with Lord Delmar.

"Of course." Alana said with a smile.

"When..." The dusky-skinned woman looked down. "When will Master Ethan collar me?"

Alana stared. "What?"

"I am a slave." Myla said. "I think he will be a better master than Lord Farbrottan, but I would not wish to grow used to freedom only to have it removed by a collar once more."

"He's not going to collar you and you aren't a slave anymore." Alana replied. "Ethanhates slavery. He isn't even comfortable with the entirely voluntary version that Illuminar allows in the Book of Light, much less the horrible version that Lord Farbrottan allows."

Myla nodded slowly. "But it is illegal to free a slave in Ivernia."

"Ethan cares a lot more about what's right than what's legal." Alana replied. "You aren't a slave and Ethan would never treat you as one."

She nodded slowly but didn't speak.

"Your life is your own." Alana said with a smile. "What do you want to do with it?"

"I wish to obtain a divorce from Lord Farbrottan." Myla replied without hesitation.

"Well, I know a Luminar nearby who should be able to write a divorce certificate for you." Alana nodded towards the Midnight Sun, which was still sailing in rough formation with the Argo.

"Truly?" Myla asked.

Alana nodded. "And given the circumstances, I'm pretty sure he'll wave the customary waiting period as well."

The dusky-skinned woman blinked a few times and swallowed. "You believe that he would?"

"I think so." She nodded. "You'll be your own woman soon, what would you like to do?"

"I had not considered that, but my heart is filled with gratitude and I would wish to balance the debt I owe." She hesitated a moment before speaking. "Would it be helpful to have someone with telepathic skill assisting you?"

Alana stared. "You're telepathic?"

Myla nodded. "And I have studied the law as well. I will endeavor to assist however I am able."

Alana continued staring for several seconds before her brain caught up. "I really appreciate that Myla and I'm sure Ethan will too."

The former slave smiled.

It wasn't a wide smile and there was pain in her eyes, but the smile did reach into her eyes.

"When Ethan gets back, I'll ask him to fly you over to the Midnight Sun so Luminar Kossel can write that divorce certificate."

"My heart is filled with gratitude." Myla said, did her bow that was also half-curtsy, and then wandered away.

*Guys, there's something you really need to hear.* She thought to everyone.

* * *

Ethan was rather glad that the woman he and Kendra had rescued -- Victoria was her name -- had gotten somewhat out of breath as they finished walking back towards her town after flying most of the way. The woman had something of Beth's inexhaustible energy about her and right now he was glad she was directing that towards walking because he couldn't believe what his first wife was telling him. Well, he did believe her, but still...

Then he explained about Victoria to his wives.

The result was stunned silence for several long seconds.

*My lord, that's two incredibly gorgeous women who have legal backgrounds and are telepathic, just like Selene.* Rachel pointed out.

*And telepathy is incredibly rare.* Beth added.