A Dragon's Tale Ch. 55

*The probability of finding that combination in a single woman is vanishingly low.* Rachel pointed out. *The odds of finding it in three women?*

*It's basically impossible.* Alana finished.

*Master, I think we should ask them what their birthdays are.*

Ethan took a deep breath, thinking about it a lot more seriously than when it had been teasingly mentioned the previous night. *I see your point Tee.*

*But why are there two of them?* Kendra asked. *Ethan already has five wives and Sarah makes six so there's only one remaining.*

*Ladies, Sarah won't--* He started to say, but Alana interrupted.

*Sir, she will be number six or number seven, regardless of how many times you have everyone tickle me.*

He took a deep breath, unable to keep a smile off of his face at that possibility.

"That's my house, right there." Victoria pointed to a house that was significantly larger than the other houses in town and in better repair as well. It wasn't ostentatious or gaudy though. It actually looked quite nice and tasteful. Somewhat unusually for the houses in Ivernia, it also looked to be in good repair. He was pretty sure that made her parents rich by Ivernian standards.

*I just arrived, so we'll have to table this for now.* He thought to everyone and then spoke aloud to Victoria. "Are your parents rich?"

"Uh-huh." She smiled. "Well, not quiterich. Daddy does a lot of organizational work for Baron Martel and he pays well, even if he is..." She lowered her voice. "...I've heard he's worse than Lord Farbrottan."

Having just met the lord, Ethan found that difficult to believe.

"Come on in, you're going tolove my parents." She beamed, then opened the door and called loudly. "Mother! Father! I'm home! The Prophet of Illuminar rescued......me."

It didn't take a genius to figure out why her voice had faltered at the end.

Ivernian soldiers.

There were a half dozen of them in the house talking to a man and a woman who could only be Victoria's parents. The family resemblance was unmistakable, though the daughter was far more attractive than the mother had probably ever been.

Ethan of course had his disguise gem activated for the walk through town. However, one of the soldiers raised his hand and waved it between them, like he was clearing his vision or brushing something out of the way.

"The prophet of Illuminar." That soldier grinned, avarice in his eyes.

"Don't try it." Ethan said, resting his non-sword hand on his war sword while he gently pushed Victoria to the side with his other. Normally he would've opted for a different weapon indoors, but the front room in this house was large and had high ceilings.

The soldiers all looked at each other with wide smiles on their faces.

"It's six to one." One of them said while drawing his sword.

Ethan sighed as he drew his own sword. "Everyone who doesn't want to die, leave the room."

Victoria and her parents fled.

The soldiers attacked.

Thankfully they weren't wearing chainmail or any other kind of armor. Ethan parried the incoming overhand strike and then used his superior strength to lever his blade down and thrust out into the attacker's face while the four others spread out to come from multiple angles. The last one had his sword drawn but hung back and seemed hesitant to attack.

The remaining four attacked at the same time.

Ethan deployed his rollable shield to protect from the two on his left side and blocked one of the strikes from the right while stepping back to avoid the other. Then he crouched and turned, using his tail to trip the one he had parried. Ethan twisted his war sword around from the hanging overhand block he had used and snapped it down, cutting deeply into the man's torso.

That accomplished, Ethan leapt forward at the other man, blocking his clumsy counterstrike on his armor before this soldier too felt the bite of Ethan's blade. He turned to face the other two and charged forward, using his large kite shield as a battering ram on the one. He knocked the solider into the wall and he fell to the ground while Ethan parried an attack from the other. With one on the floor, it took Ethan approximately two seconds to kill the standing attacker and then he whipped his sword around at the other.

The prone soldier managed to block Ethan's sword strike but couldn't win in the bind against Ethan's dragon physique and enchantment-enhanced strength. Two seconds later, he too left the land of the living. Ethan stood, not even out of breath as he turned to face the last soldier.

The man dropped his sword and fled.

Ethan flicked his sword and all of the blood slid completely off of the blade thanks to its frictionless enchantment, then he returned it to its scabbard. What a difference armor made.

"They're gone." Ethan said loudly.

Several seconds later, Victoria and her parents reentered the room.

Her father looked around at the dead bodies and whistled. "The prophet of Illuminar -- blessed be He."

"Blessed be He." Everyone echoed, even Ethan because 'when in Rome'...

"You have my undying gratitude for returning my daughter to me." The man continued. He was a slightly pasty man and didn't look entirely healthy. In contrast to the vibrant and youthful look of his wife and daughter, his face was a bit drawn, his hair was a bit thin, and his clothes hung off him in such a way that Ethan was pretty sure he was rather thin. By contrast, his eyes were bright, alert, and spoke of obvious intelligence. It seemed that what this man lacked in body, he more than made up for in mind. His wife was clinging to his arm as well, which spoke well of him too.

"I was happy to help, though I'm afraid I've put you in a bad spot with the Ivernian military." Ethan indicated the bodies on the ground.

"Indeed." The man nodded, then extended his hand towards Ethan. "I am Harold Gladstone and this is my wife Carla."

"Pleasure." Ethan shook his hand and then looked at the bodies again. "I don't suppose the local authorities will understand?"

"The Baron Martell? Hardly." Harold replied. "He makes Lord Farbrottan seem like a generous and forgiving fellow. His manor house is less than five miles away and I have petitioned him every day since my girl was taken, but he still took many days to send these men to help, even with my years of service." No one would miss the bitterness in the man's tone.

"Do you have somewhere you can go?" Ethan asked.

"Not nearby." The man replied. "I have family outside of Baron Martell's jurisdiction, but I'm afraid no place in Ivernia will be safe after this." He looked at his wife. "Perhaps we could make it to Timarou?"

"All the way to Timarou?" His wife looked both skeptical and fearful.

"The wood elves might turn us away, Narlotten will extradite us, Har'peton is just as far and much worse, Koilas is further away, and the wilding lands are out of the question for obvious reasons." Harold frowned. "What other option is there?"

"My airship, at least for a short while." Ethan said. "It's nearby and we're heading towards the Timarou border next. I'd feel a lot better about you hitching a ride with us than walking overland. I've heard the Ivernian roads are dangerous and the Ivernian military might catch up with you."

"Are you sure?" Harold asked.

"Yeah." He nodded. "It's only for a couple days, then we'll be quite close to Ivernia's border with Timarou and you can cross there."

Harold breathed a sigh of relief and suddenly looked a few years younger. "I cannot thank you enough; First you save my daughter and then my entire family."

"Speaking of, they won't go after the other children, will they?" Harold's wife asked.

He shook his head. "No, they have been out of the house long enough that they shouldn't." He looked at Ethan. "Vicky was a surprise late child, born ten years after our previous child."

"Okay." Ethan nodded. "Well, grab only what you can't leave behind. My airship is a decent size, but we'll be taking a canoe-sized airship to get there so pack light and pack fast."

The family assented and then went to do just that.

*Heads up ladies, we're going to have guests on the Argo for a few days.* Ethan thought to everyone and then explained.

*Yes sir, I'll let Anthiel know to expect a few more for lunch.* Alana replied.

*I'm almost finished here Drago.* Kendra replied. *I'll meet you at my airship soon.*

*Okay, sounds good.* He replied, thinking the Argo would have a lot of guests soon with the Gladstone family plus Myla. Speaking of, he supposed that he really needed to sit down with the former slave at some point and have a talk about what she wanted to do in life.

* * *

Ethan touched down on the Argo's deck, glad that the trip had been uneventful. Victoria's family hadn't brought much besides some family portraits, a rather hefty coin purse, and some self-cleaning clothes. Harold had brought a few books and the ladies had brought some jewelry, but thankfully they had listened to him and had packed lightly. Kendra set her airship down on the Argo not long after Ethan had returned since he'd flown with them as an escort in case of problems.

"Is that food?" Victoria said as she sniffed the air. "That dragon didn't feed me much and I'mstarving!" She looked at Ethan. "May I please have some?"

"Have as much as you like." He smiled.

"Thank you!" She beamed and then ran to the circle where everyone else was.

"She's quite excitable." Ethan observed to her parents.

"And always has been." Her mother agreed.

"She could find the bright spot in a pig sty." Harold agreed. "You wouldn't know it to look at her, but she's been through rather a lot in her short life and come out well."

"She has?" Ethan asked. Her family seemed wealthy for Ivernians and nothing about her life or personality appeared to indicate hardship, though obviously appearances could be deceiving.

"Another story for another time." Her father nodded.

Ethan shrugged and walked over to the lunch crowd wanting some grub as well. Myla had just stood up and introduced herself -- notably without the 'Friend-Name' part -- and Victoria looked confused.

"So your name is 'Ekdala'?" The platinum blonde asked.

Rachel then explained how the formal introduction was done, after which Victoria looked at Myla and said haltingly. "Hail, I am Gladstone... MetHarold... Victoria... de Tesselae... Is that right?"

"Hai." Myla nodded, so Ethan assumed that 'hai' meant 'yes'.

Victoria smiled and then got some food with her parents and Ethan not far behind her. It ended up being a rather large circle around the firepan on which lunch was cooked. With so many new people around, Ethan paid rather a lot of attention to the atmosphere. It was good. There was some awkwardness since introductions were being made, but otherwise it was good.

*It seems that everyone is getting along.* Alana thought to him about halfway through lunch.

*It's good to see.* He replied.

As lunch was winding down, someone mentioned Nalatia and Beth jumped up and thought to everyone. *I haven't checked the portals yet today.* She dashed into the captain's cabin and returned several seconds later with an envelope which she handed to Alana. "It's in elvish."

The wood elf opened it. "It's from the king of the wood elves. He has a ward who was the daughter of a dear friend who died..." She scanned lower. "Apparently she has been begging him to delay her Metherion -- an elven noblewoman's traditional coming-of-age ball -- until you could attend." She then added telepathically. *He included a small portrait and she's just as gorgeous as Selene, Myla, or Victoria. He also confidentially mentioned that she has some skill in telepathy and that her father was in the legal field; I think he's hoping you'll be interested in marrying her.*

Ethan and all of his wives looked at each other.

"Does it say when she came of age?" Beth asked aloud.

Alana scanned the letter for several moments. "Um, yes right here it says that her birthday was on--" She looked up at her fellow wives and Ethan. "--her birthday is Setas sixth."

"Oh, that's my birthday too." Victoria said brightly.

"Mine as well." Myla said, then took another bite of her lunch.

Ethan's jaw dropped.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Note: This chapter began on day 102 of Ethan's life in the Ten Kingdoms and ended on day 104. So, I would like to apologize for the insane number of typos in the early chapters of ADT before I got an editor. I recently went back through with an AI-powered error/grammar-checking tool and fixed more typos than I thought possible. There were just so, so many. I had no idea. I'm really sorry and also incredibly grateful that you all stuck with our heroes despite the errors. I'll re-upload the corrected chapters as an editor I'm working with finishes them, so that's coming. :)

I submit new chapters on the last Wednesday of every month, and they usually drop after the 2-3 days review process. Thus I'll submit the next chapter on March 27th, and it'll probably drop on March 29th or 30th.

I'd like to extend a very special thanks to two of my patrons, one of whom didn't want to be credited by name. So "Anonymous" and Joseph: thank you so much for your support. I really appreciate it.

STORY TAGS: dragon, magic, medieval, elf, teen, romance, virgin, harem, cuckquean