Chapter 6: The calm before the storm

* * *

Ethan took a deep breath. "Prepare to repel boarders!"

Almost instinctively, Ethan called his hammer and spear to his hands. Alana made a beeline for the storage compartment where she'd stashed her bow and arrows. Anthiel drew her sword and a roll of leather. He felt the tingle of magic being used and then the roll of leather unrolled itself into a small shield that looked quite rigid. The two crewmen drew sabers and took up defensive positions.

"We are so dead." Beth whispered looking up at the twenty ropes that had just fallen from the attacking airship, then to the mere five defenders on the Argo.

Anthiel smiled. "Do you really think your father would send just anyone to protect his little girl?"

She shook her head, then glanced at the two crewmembers. A flicker of recognition came to her face. Despite that, she looked unsure what to do.

"Can you fight?" Ethan asked. She shook her head again, so he said. "Then lock yourself in the captain's cabin."

She nodded, then then did so.

"Defend the Quarterdeck." Anthiel said. "If they take that they'll control the ship."

Alana ran back up the stairs with her bow in hand and her quiver at her side. They gathered around the ship's wheel facing out and waited. Mere seconds later, twenty men began rappelling from the ropes they had dropped.

Alana drew her bow and started shooting the incoming pirates. Her aim was fast and deadly; four of the pirates were dead before they hit the deck. Inspired by her success, Ethan threw his spear at one of the descending pirates but narrowly missed. He called it back to his hand, but he didn't have time for another attempt.

The pirates had landed.

Four of them landed on the quarterdeck, the remaining dozen landed scattered around the main weather deck. Anthiel and the two crewmen engaged one each while Alana fired a fast and deadly hail of arrows at the men unlucky enough to be in her view. Ethan engaged the last pirate on the quarterdeck, dropping his war hammer to wield the spear in two hands.

The pirate looked to be about thirty with weather-beaten and worn clothing. He carried a cutlass and a one-handed boarding axe. Ethan lunged with the tip of his spear, but the pirate hooked the shaft with his boarding axe and charged in for a slash aimed at Ethan's chest.

Ethan did exactly what Heinrich trained him to do.

The moment the pirate had hooked his weapon, Ethan slid his hands far apart and jerked the opposite way. Using his superior leverage, Ethan ripped the boarding axe right out of the pirate's hands while at the same time using part of the shaft to block the pirate's slash. He continued the motion, treating the spear like a bo staff, swinging it around in an attempt to crack the pirate's skull.

The pirate ducked and stepped back, which was all the room Ethan needed. Ethan thrust at the pirate again, and the pirate was able to get his sword up, but he didn't have the strength to fight Ethan's superior two-handed leverage with only one arm. The tip of Ethan's spear plunged into the pirate's chest just above his heart and he fell like a ton of bricks.

Ethan jerked his spear out, turning to see how the others were doing...

And barely missed having his head cut off.

Another pirate had run up the stairs to the quarterdeck and aimed a slash at him. Ethan dived backwards to avoid it. The pirate advanced and Ethan would've died right there if Alana hadn't put an arrow through the pirate's head a moment before his blade would've run Ethan through.

He had just enough time to glance around at the situation. Anthiel and the two crewmen had already dispatched their opponents and were fighting a pitched battle for one of the two staircases on either side of the quarterdeck that led down to the main deck. Alana had almost emptied her quiver and the scattered pirates with arrows sticking out of them testified to her effectiveness.

"Ethan, protect the stairs." Anthiel called.

He jumped up and got to the top of one of the stairways. Only a few pirates remained and one of them was charging up the stairs. Ethan lunged with his spear. Despite the pirate's best efforts, the spear connected and buried itself deep into his chest.

Too deep.

Unfortunately, the spearhead was firmly stuck into the man's chest and he couldn't pull it out. The last pirate on his side of the ship charged up the stairs and Ethan was forced to abandon his attempt to retrieve his spear. The pirate slashed at him and he jumped back.

"Hey." Alana shouted.

The pirate whipped around toward Alana with his sword at the ready. She was only armed with a bow and didn't have an arrow in hand, so she brought it up like a stave to defend herself. Ethan took a flying leap from the ground and tackled him. Unfortunately for them both, the stairs were in that direction and Ethan's momentum carried them both into open air.

Then something odd happened.

All his life, Ethan had seen cats instantly right themselves in mid-air and land on their feet after falling from any height. Apparently, dragons shared that instinct. Time almost seemed to slow as Ethan's body automatically twisted in mid-fall. Suddenly, Ethan was facing the main deck coming up to meet his face. He stuck out both arms and legs landing on all fours; badly, but he landed. Then the pirate landed on top of him, flattening him to the deck and nearly knocking the wind out of him before rolling away.

Ethan grabbed a pirate's sword that was lying on the deck, its former owner having an arrow sticking out of his head. He turned toward the pirate and before the pirate could mount an effective defense, Ethan slashed at him. The blade caught the pirate across his arm, severing it and burying itself several inches into the man's chest. Unfortunately for the pirate, it was the side where his heart was located.

He turned white and then slumped to the deck.

Alana ran down the stairs, then -- her new position granting her a clear shot -- turned and loosed a final arrow at the last pirate who was fighting on the other staircase. The arrow caught him in the side, giving one of the Argo's sailors plenty of time to finish the job.

Anthiel and the two sailors came down the stairs to stand next to Ethan and Alana. Alana turned to face them, putting her back towards the quarterdeck. They all breathed a sigh of relief, though panted would probably be more accurate as all of them -- Ethan included -- were out of breath.

"Well... how's that?" Ethan asked. He hadn't noticed before, but his hands were shaking slightly because of the adrenaline in his veins.

"Perfect." A gruff voice said from the quarterdeck. Ethan's head snapped up. Three more pirates had fast-roped down. Two landed on the quarterdeck and one landed right behind Alana. Before she could react, he put his arm around her neck and a knife to her throat.

"Drop your weapons or the bitch gets it." The Pirate said.

Ethan's borrowed pirate cutlass was the first to fall, followed by Alana's bow. Anthiel and the two crewmen joined suit moments later.

"Get them." The pirate who was holding Alana commanded the other two. The two pirates came down the stairs and collected the weapons.

"That worked perfectly." The pirate holding Alana said to his compatriots. "I didn't figure the math on two waves, but I'll be damned if Falkaan doesn't know his shit."

The other two mumbled something in agreement.

The pirate looked down at the wood elf in his arms and a wicked smile crossed his face. "Now, I think I might have me some juicy little elf before we gut the lot of you. I never had an elf before."

"And you won't now." She looked scared, but her voice was determined.

Ethan looked frantically around for anything that could help. The other pirates had already collected the other weapons and were standing between him and Alana with their swords raised. He didn't think any of them stood a chance without a weapon, but they were all out of reach. Then Ethan remembered his spear. It was still stuck in the pirate's body, but Ethan didn't want to risk the time it might take to pull it out magically because it was still firmly stuck.

His war hammer though...

The quarterdeck was right about at eye level when you stood on the main deck, and Ethan could see his war hammer laying right where he'd dropped it. Since he'd spent the entire fight on the same side of the ship, the pirate who was holding Alana wasn't far from being between him and his warhammer.

Ethan smiled.

"What's so funny?" the pirate asked suspiciously.

"Nothing." Ethan said. He took a couple of steps to the left so that if he raised his hand, the pirate's head would be directly between the war hammer and his hand.

"What you playing at?" The pirate rotated his wrist so that his arm still pinned Alana's neck, but the knife was now pointing at Ethan instead of her jugular.

"That." Ethan said the moment the pirate's blade left Alana's neck.

He called his hammer with all his might.

The hammer took off like a shot and the pirate never knew what hit the back of his head. The crack from the impact was loud enough that the two other pirates glanced behind them for a moment. The pirate who had been holding Alana dropped like a ton of bricks, and his knife opened a shallow scrape on her arm as he fell.

The sight of her blood made Ethan's blood run cold.

A deep primal rage welled up in Ethan's chest. His heart felt like the arctic wind, but not because he was concerned for Alana's life. It was a pitiless rage directed at the pirate who had barely finished falling. He had dared to hurt Alana. The last time Alana had been hurt was in the bank vault with all that gold...

The gold.

Ethan's mind went to the cube of gold he had safely locked in a trunk in the captain's cabin. The pirate had not only hurt Alana, but he also wanted to take Ethan's gold. The rage in his heart reached critical mass, then broke over him like the water of a dam that had just burst.

* * *

Alana had felt the knife drag over her skin as the pirate fell, but she could tell instantly that the cut was neither deep nor serious. It was more like a deep scrape than an actual cut. She let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding and looked at Ethan to thank him.

But something was wrong.

For the briefest moment, Ethan seemed to fight an internal battle. Then his entire countenance changed. His body language shifted to be more predatory and aggressive. His eyes went from very human concern to the cold, pitiless eyes of nature's greatest apex predator.

This wasn't Ethan anymore; it was the dragon.

The feelings of concern and protectiveness vanished from their bond like they had been washed away by a flash flood. A deep, primal rage formed in their absence; a bottomless black pit seemed to encompass Ethan's entire mind and being, consuming him with primitive fury and wrath.

The dragon opened his mouth and the roar he released froze her to the spot. Her limbs lost all ability to move. Her heart froze in her chest and her muscles refused to obey her commands. Ethan had scared her when roaring before, but nothing like this. Her very soul seemed to freeze in pure, unadulterated terror. If her will was weaker, she would have dived off the ship to escape that dreadful sound.

The pirates' will was weaker.

The two remaining pirates dropped their swords and turned to run but the dragon didn't let them. It leapt forward and buried its claws into one of the pirates while using its wing to whip out and hit the other in the back of the knees, knocking him to the deck. The dragon used its teeth to rip out the one pirate's throat, then proceeded to maul the other with its claws so badly that he looked more like a pile of bloody steaks than a human.

But that was nothing compared to what the dragon had in store for the unconscious pirate who had held a knife to her throat. The dragon's claws made a slightly clicking sound as he stalked over to the unconscious pirate. It retrieved Ethan's war hammer, though curiously he didn't call it to his hand magically.

The dragon walked up to the unconscious pirate and swung the war hammer at his head. Apparently once wasn't enough, because the dragon did it again... and again... and again. Alana was frozen by the grotesque spectacle before her.

This dragon was absolutely brutal.

"Ethan, please stop." Alana said, but the dragon didn't stop. All semblance of rational human emotion had disappeared from their bond as the dragon continued to pound the dead pirate's body to a bloody pulp.

"Ethan." Alana called again, but still the dragon ignored her.

Now that every pirate on the airship was well and truly dead, the dragon turned its head skyward at the attacking airship that hovered maybe a hundred feet above the Argo. The dragon let out a low growl, then crouched and began spreading its wings.

"No! Ethan, please don't." Alana shouted, but the dragon completely ignored her.

*Please stop.* Alana thought with all of her will at Ethan, though she knew he couldn't hear her.

The dragon recoiled as if someone had punched it in the face. It shook its head as if trying to clear it then closed its eyes. She felt real, human emotions return to him over their bond. All of a sudden, Ethan seemed unsteady on his feet. He staggered in place like a drunk, which was strange considering he was on four legs. He put a hand on his head like he was coming down with a hangover.

"Ethan?" Alana said, not sure if her friend or the dragon would respond.

"I feel like someone split my head in half." Ethan said, then he opened his eyes and saw the carnage he had wrought. The look of horror and revulsion on his face mirrored the emotions coming over their bond.

"What happened..." Ethan looked around, though he winced as he moved his head. "Who did...?"

His eyes landed on what was left of the pirate who cut Alana and his eyes traveled from the bloody mess to the blood-soaked Warhammer still in his hand. He clutched his stomach for a moment, then vomited all over the deck. Alana went over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

He glanced at her and his eyes betrayed a deep sense of shock and revulsion. "Did I...?"

"You saw someone hurt me and exploded in rage." She summarized. "I appreciate the sentiment, but this is too far."

"I didn't mean to... I just... they hurt you, then I thought of..." he trailed off as he glanced toward the captain's cabin, where she knew he'd stashed the gold cube.

Apparently, Anthiel knew too. "You are a dragon through and through. We need to get underway." She turned to the two crewmen and issued several orders regarding sails.

"I uh... I'm going to go...." Ethan said, but he didn't seem to know where he wanted to go.

"Come here." Alana led the way to the front of the ship, which was mercifully free from all the carnage. Ethan followed like the zombies of myth, seemingly in shock after seeing the carnage he'd wrought.

"I didn't know that I was capable of... I mean... how could I..." he trailed off as he looked toward the carnage at the stern. He looked revolted and disgusted, but that wasn't all.

"You're a dragon Ethan." Alana said. "I realize you weren't before, but you are now. That comes with some baggage; it's unfortunate and I'm sorry, but it's true."

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized she wasn't nearly as bothered by him butchering those men as she should've been, but she put it out of her mind for the moment. Doing so was surprisingly -- and disturbingly -- easy as she paid attention to his thoughts.

There was something in them that wasn't quite right.

Now that she was paying attention, she noticed a -- there was no other word for it -- a darkness hovering in Ethan's thoughts. A darkness that seemed foreign and unnatural somehow. It surrounded him without being a part of him; almost like something else was affecting him. It was there, but intangible. Like it was there, yet somehow not there.

It unsettled her.

It almost felt like an enchantment or curse. But who could've possibly cursed him? Worse, she found her brain trying to push it out of her head...

Then it slipped from her mind.

She shook her head confused.

She had just been thinking about something -- something important -- but she couldn't remember exactly what. She thought it had to do with Ethan, but for the life of her, she couldn't think of it. It was like a dream that faded with the waking hours.

"Dragons have baggage; I suppose that's one way to put it." Ethan said, bringing her attention back to the conversation at hand.

"You weren't like this before." Alana said. "You only lose control like this when you're around a lot of gold. You're a good man Ethan. A great man even; easily one of the best men I have ever known. Maybe it's not you, but the dragon that makes you lose control."

"You think so?" he asked.

She nodded. "I haven't known you long Ethan, but you're not a savage. I spent a lot of time talking with Drousin before he tried to eat me. Dragons are savage creatures; make no mistake about that. They are predators in every sense of the word and they prey on anyone weaker than they are. You are different. You risk your life for those around you, which is something a dragon would never do."

Ethan took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Alana could feel some measure of peace through their bond. His emotions were still turbulent and he was still horrified by what he'd done, but it wasn't so all-consuming anymore.

"I sort of blanked out while I..." he trailed off as he glanced toward the still bloody portion of the weather deck.

"You don't remember doing... you know, that?"

He shook his head.

"Maybe that's a good thing,"

He was silent for a minute before speaking. "It was the gold. I thought they would steal it and I... I just lost it.

"Oh." She didn't know what else to say.

"I bet that's why Lord Delmar gave that cube to me. I bet he was trying to really mess me up."

"That makes sense. What are you going to do with it?"

Ethan's whole body language instantly changed. He suddenly looked wary and suspicious, like she was trying to swindle or con him.

"Why?"

"It was just a question, relax." She said with a sigh. "I won't try to steal your gold because it's yours. But if you ever wish to part with it--"

"I won't and you can't make me." The dragon hissed. He had crouched and raised his hands as if getting ready for a fight.

"--It will be your decision if you do." Alana finished. "I promise I will never take your gold anywhere without your express permission."

She added that last bit to help calm him down. It worked somewhat. The dragon relaxed a little and much of the suspicion disappeared from their bond.

"You might want to get cleaned up a little." She suggested. His hands and mouth were still covered in blood from his brief, but brutal, massacre of the pirates.

Ethan looked at himself. "Yeah. I should."

"And you might consider checking up on that wife of yours afterward."

He nodded and went to do just that.

Alana helped Anthiel and the two crewmen to clean up the dead bodies. Once they were away from Gralden, they dumped them over the side after stripping their bodies of anything useful or valuable. They collected over a dozen swords in good condition, plus a bunch of knives, a few axes, and some coin from the pirate's pouches.

Once that was done, she headed below decks to her hammock. Being such a small ship, the Argo didn't have separate rooms for all the crewmembers. Only the captain -- Ethan -- had that privilege. The rest of the crew slept in hammocks that were strung below decks. Anthiel had hung up a large blanket to separate the women's hammocks from the men's for privacy.

As she lay in bed trying to fall asleep, the events of the day finally caught up with her. Ethan's wedding, the emotions during his wedding night, Rachel's attack, Ethan convincing her to come with him on the Argo, the fight with the pirates, and the conversation afterward; it had been a full day. Her emotions were all jumbled up and they didn't want to separate so she could work through them.

She was exhausted, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Her life had changed so much in the past month it was unbelievable. She had lost her farm, found love, been bonded, lost love, and then watched her man marry another woman. To top it off, she was traveling with them. Alana had heard many stories about heroes and heroines in similarly awful circumstances where the story always ended well.

But this wasn't a story.

This was real life.

There was no guarantee of a "happily ever after" and it looked like she would live out her days bonded to Ethan while he was married to another woman. That bothered her less than spending her days away from him. Beth really was a great girl, and she truly wished they would be a happy couple. She just wished she could be with him too.

She rolled over in her hammock and tried to fall asleep. It hurt too much to keep thinking. She checked their bond and found Ethan's emotions calm enough that he was probably asleep.

*Goodnight Ethan,* she thought as she fell asleep.

As she drifted off to sleep, she could've sworn she heard a faint voice inside her head wishing her good night in return.

* * *

*Goodnight Ethan,* a voice whispered in Ethan's mind as he jerked awake. At least, he felt like he was awake.

Looking around he wasn't so sure.

Everything had a purple hue. Literally everything that he could see, including the stars outside in the night sky had a purple hue to them. It reminded him of that dream just before he'd arrived in this world. Further, he was standing in the captain's cabin on the Argo, but could clearly see himself sleeping in the bed next to Beth.

Everything had that same purple hue.

The captain's cabin was square and about sixteen feet on a side, though it seemed a lot smaller. Along the rear wall was a large glass-blocked bay window. There were twin cabinets at least five feet square on either side of the door as you entered, leaving only about six feet of room to walk, and giving the room a thick, "T" shaped floor plan, with the top of the "T" having the bay window. A large bed sat on the starboard side of the rear wall, and a large desk sat opposite it, leaving a cross-shaped walking space

He could see Beth sleeping next to his sleeping body, but she hardly seemed to sleep soundly. Ethan reached forward to touch her because she was rolling around uncomfortably in her sleep.

His hand passed right through her.

He tried again with the same result, though she seemed to relax slightly as his hand passed through her. He tried touching the other things in the room. However, his hand simply passed through everything without effect as if he was a ghost or phantom. He almost tried touching his own sleeping body, but for some reason, he resisted that urge.

As he looked at his sleeping body, he felt like something was off.

Wrong.

The scales on the back of his neck stood up and he sniffed the air. There was something in the air -- almost a scent, but not quite -- that was foul but he couldn't place it. Worse, he almost couldn't smell it. It was like it was on the edge of his nose, but he couldn't quite sense it.

It was the same with his vision.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could almost see something black and shadowy hovering around his head. It wasn't purple, and it was the only thing he could see that wasn't. However, he could only see it out of the corner of his eye. The moment he turned to look directly at it, it disappeared. Assuming of course that he wasn't imagining it. Something about it made him decidedly uncomfortable, depressed, and just plain listless.

He put it out of his mind -- which was easier than it should've been -- and walked through the captain's cabin door onto the main deck. One of the crewmen was scrubbing the last of the bloodstains out of the decking. The other was nowhere to be seen. Above and behind him on the quarterdeck, Anthiel played a soft tune on an instrument similar to a flute.

Everything out here also had that strange purple hue.

"Anthiel." Ethan called, but she didn't appear to hear him. He walked up the stairs to the quarterdeck and was halfway up before he realized the stairs were supporting his weight and he wasn't just passing right through them.

"That's strange." Ethan said. Seeing no obvious explanation, he made a mental note to figure it out later.

"Anthiel." Ethan said after walking up right next to her.

She didn't react, so Ethan tried to touch her shoulder. His hand passed right through it like everything else. However, Anthiel reacted. In an instant, she had stowed her flute and drawn her sword.

"Who's there." She said.

"It's Ethan. I'm right here." He answered, but she didn't appear to hear him.

"Show yourself." She said again.

"Anthiel, it's Ethan." He repeated, but she didn't react this time either.

The high elf closed her eyes and reached out a hand. Ethan could feel... Something. He was pretty sure she was using magic -- probably to enhance her senses -- but he couldn't tell what she was doing.

After a few minutes, she seemed to calm down and started playing her flute again. He wandered around the ship some more and ended by gazing out across the dark purple skyline.

As he gazed out across the vast purple expanse, a single bright point of light stood out. It was so far away that he had to squint even with his dragon eyes to make it out. It looked like a person and, judging from the silhouette and the hair, maybe a woman?

She shone brightly and pure white like the sun, yet there was no harshness to the light she gave off. It was like staring into a spotlight, but with the comforting glow of a warm flickering candle instead of the blinding pain of over-bright lights. She -- if it was a she -- seemed to be watching the Argo intently, and especially him. He couldn't be sure though because she was so far away.

She also appeared to be sitting in mid-air.

Ethan thought about spreading his wings to get closer but didn't want to chance it in this strange purple reality. He stared at her for several minutes and called to her several times, but she either wasn't in a talkative mood or was too far away to answer.

Eventually, he gave up trying to make her out exactly and wandered below decks. He found the other crewman sleeping on a hammock near the front of the ship on the lower deck. Nearby, there was a blanket nailed to the ceiling to form a makeshift wall.

On the other side, Alana was asleep on a hammock. She was still wearing her green dress and surprisingly there was no sign of blood on it. It looked perfectly clean and fresh, like it had just been washed; the wonders of magically self-cleaning fabric.

The wood elf herself wasn't sleeping too well.

She was regularly tossing and turning, and Ethan was glad she was in one of those 'wraparound' hammocks or she probably would've fallen out by now. He felt a tinge of guilt that she was sleeping here while he had a nice comfortable bed. Then again, Beth was in the captain's cabin with him and he didn't want to see her on a hammock either.

Ethan leaned over and kissed Alana on the forehead. The instant his lips passed through her forehead, she seemed to calm down. She stopped writhing about in her hammock and her breathing became more regular. Her expression turned peaceful and Ethan could feel her emotions calming over their bond.

"Ethan" she murmured, then seemed to relax and fall into a deep, restful sleep.

Suddenly, he felt very tired himself.

He made his way back to the captain's cabin and dropped down on the bed. Almost the instant he touched his own body, he felt the blissful blackness of sleep overtake him. He was so tired that he almost missed the dark shadow that seemed to cling to the head of his body.

Almost.

* * *

Beth woke up to the sound of heavy breathing nearby. She momentarily freaked out until she remembered where she was and who was next to her. She took a deep breath and let her heart settle.

Then again, it was hard to let her heart settle when she remembered what happened between her and Ethan only last night. He had so thoroughly pleasured her that her nether regions still felt like an over-stretched water skin. Just thinking about it made her feel a familiar itch between her legs

She looked over at Ethan, trying to decide if she should wake him. He hadn't said anything the previous night beyond seeing if she was okay. Then he'd flopped down on the bed and fallen asleep straightaway. She was tempted to wake him up until she remembered the battle last night. She found herself wishing he would sleep a few hours more so she could put off apologizing.

On the bright side, she had managed to get some of her favorite reference books and novels before they set sail. She slipped out of bed, grabbed a reference book on dragons she hadn't finished yet, curled up next to the window, and started reading.

Two hours later, Ethan began to stir.

"Good morning." She said.

"Morning." Ethan mumbled sleepily.

She took a deep breath, put her book down, crawled back into bed with him, and then began. "I heard what happened during the battle, and I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Ethan asked, though he wasn't fully awake yet.

"For not helping."

Ethan sat up yawing. "You said you don't know how to fight right?"

"Not really."

"Then there's nothing to be sorry for. In fact, you might have gotten yourself killed. That's why I told you to come in here."

"You're not mad?"

"No." Ethan replied with another yawn. "Why would I be?"

"Um, I just thought..." she trailed off.

"Thought what?"

What had she thought? She wasn't exactly sure why she'd been so sure he'd be upset with her. He clearly wasn't, and she found that surprising for some reason.

"I don't know." She mused. "I was always wandering around my father's mansion with my nose in a book. My mother always caught me and scolded me for being unladylike. She said real ladies didn't read, they worked to become better wives for their future husbands."

"Wow." He said and his mouth was hanging open slightly.

"Maybe I should've listened." Beth bit her lip and averted her eyes. What if she hadn't spent enough time learning how to be a good wife and he could tell? What if she wasn't a good enough wife and made him miserable?

Ethan used the side of his index finger tip gently tip her chin up so she was looking at him. "Beth, I like the fact that you read. Smart women are sexy."

"Really?"

"Absolutely."

He said it with enough conviction that she almost believed him. Almost. Not that she thought he was lying -- she didn't -- but after years of hearing her mother say it, it was rather stuck in her head.

"She always told me I didn't help enough. She said if I wasn't helpful, I wouldn't be a good wife."

"I know we haven't been married very long but you've been a good wife so far."

She could scarcely believe her ears. "Really?"

"Really, really." He said in a strange accent. At her confused expression, he explained. "Sorry, it's a line from Shrek."

"What's a Shrek?"

"It's--" He hesitated for several seconds. "--hard to explain. Anyway, I'm not sure what your mom thought about your skills as a wife. But as your husband, I can say I'm happy so far."

"Good." She breathed a huge sigh of relief, then lunged at him and gave him a huge hug. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, and it's true." He said returning the hug.

"There is one more thing." She didn't let go so she wouldn't have to look at him.

"What?" Ethan asked.

Beth took a moment to gather her courage, then spoke in a rush. "I'vebeenarealbitchaboutAlanaandI'msorry."

"Come again?"

She broke the hug and sat down, though didn't quite meet his gaze. "I've been a real bitch about Alana and I'm sorry." She repeated a little slower. "The truth is, I was a little jealous because I know you really love her and I didn't want... I mean, I wouldn't ever want anything bad to happen to her so I'm glad she came with us."

Ethan opened his arms and Beth snuggled into another hug.

"It's okay." He said.

"It's probably harder for her than for me." Beth mused. "I mean I have you, but she clearly still loves you. I wouldn't want to be in her position."

He made a noncommittal grunt and she relaxed into him while thinking about their current predicament. The wood elf had only agreed to stay on the Argo until they were out of Gralden, but seemed interested in traveling all the way to Arcanum to see if they could break her bond with Ethan.

She surprised herself by thinking she would miss Alana when she left the Argo. She obviously didn't want to share her husband with another woman. Other than that though, she really did like having her around.

Beth fought a silent war with herself for several minutes.

On the one hand, she wanted Alana off the Argo so she and Ethan could really and properly bond as a married couple without her interference. On the other hand, she didn't want Alana to suffer for her marriage to Ethan, especially since the wood elf helped rescue her in the first place.

"I think Alana should stay with us at least until we get to Arcanum." She finally said. "I mean, she'll probably be happier without the bond because of how much she loves you. And if you can't break it then maybe a wizard there can teach her how to block the bond out."

Ethan nodded. "Probably a good idea, but you're sure you don't mind?"

"I suggested it didn't I?" She replied.

She wasn't perfectly happy with the idea, but she thought it best for everyone. Besides -- guy trouble notwithstanding -- she liked Alana a lot. The notion that she could share Ethan with the lovely wood elf flitted through her mind, and she was surprised by how little aversion she felt to the idea. She didn't like it, but didn't quite hate it either.

"Okay. It's a plan." Ethan said.

* * *

Not long after his conversation with Beth, the smell of food convinced Ethan to leave the captain's cabin with her in tow. On the weather deck, Alana was tending a small charcoal fire that was burning on a shallow iron bowl. The fire bowl hung from a wide tripod that protected the wooden decking from the fire. Suspended above it was a small iron pot full of boiling water. Judging from the smell, there was also some kind of pork in the pot. Next to the fire was a small open keg of pickles and another of sauerkraut.

Anthiel and the two crewmen were sitting on the deck near the pot eating breakfast.

"Look who finally decided to get out of bed." Anthiel called. "The sun rose almost an hour ago."

"I had a weird night." Ethan said as he grabbed a plate, used a long fork to pull a chunk of meat out of the pot, and put a few pickles on his plate.

"How so?" Alana asked.

Ethan told them about his strange experience. Anthiel perked up when he mentioned how the whole world seemed to have a purple cast in it, especially when he mentioned touching her shoulder.

"I remember that." Anthiel said. "I could feel that something had affected me, but I couldn't tell what it was."

"That was me." He said. "So, what happened?"

"That sounds like Astral Projection." Beth offered.

"What's that?"

"It's separating your magical essence or spirit from your body and moving around outside your body." Anthiel answered. "It's very advanced magic, and you did it by accident?"

"Maybe?" Ethan said. He took a bite of the meat and found that it was good, if rather salty. It certainly wasn't five-star dining, but it didn't taste bad either. The pickles were about the same level of culinary sophistication.

"So, what else do we know about astral projection?" Ethan asked.

"That's about all I know." Anthiel said.

Everyone else voiced a similar opinion.

"Okay, then let's move on to the other thing that happened last night." Ethan said. "I just wanted to say that you all did fantastic against those pirates. I thought we were done for, but you all did amazing."

"Not as amazing as you." One of the crewmen said. He was built like a linebacker and his hair was bleached sandy blond by the sun. His neck and arms were covered with tattoos, most of which had a nautical theme. Yet despite his bulky size, this sailor clearly knew how to handle himself.

"You did eliminate the last three pirates in a competent manner." The other crewman said. He wasn't nearly as big, but looked tough and was built more like an Olympic gymnast than anything else. He had dark hair and moved with a precision and grace that was frankly disturbing. He gave Ethan the impression this fellow was extremely skilled in combat.

Plus, he was absent-mindedly twirling a razor-sharp knife in his fingers.

Ethan had initially assumed that Lord Borden had just picked two random crewmen to help sail the Argo. After seeing these men up close -- and in action last night -- he wasn't so sure.

"So, what happened?" Anthiel asked Ethan.

"Honestly, I don't know." Ethan said. "The dragon kind of took over. I remember it, but it's sort of fuzzy."

"You should've given the dragon control before they landed." The blond crewman said. "We would've mopped them up in half the time."

"Raklan." Anthiel said to the blond pirate. "I'm not sure that would've been a good thing."

"Why not?" said Raklan, the blond crewman who was built like a linebacker.

"Dragons are notoriously unpredictable." The dark-haired crewman said. He was soft-spoken, but every word was clear and deliberate. "Yes, he might have killed the pirates faster, but he also might have turned on us."

"But you wouldn't have a problem with that, would you Serif?" Raklan said.

"I don't know what you mean." The dark-haired crewman -- Serif -- replied.

"Please." Raklan said with his mouth full. "I mean how many dragons have you--"

Anthiel cleared her throat loudly and Raklan fell silent.

"There's one more thing we should probably talk about." Alana said after looking at Raklan curiously for several seconds.

"Rachel." Ethan said. "Yeah, I know. Thoughts anyone?"

"You mean that skinny little redhead tied up in storage?" Raklan asked with a mouth full of food. "She's a trouble. Toss her over the side and be done with it."

"I was hoping for a suggestion that didn't involve murder." Ethan said.

"What murder?" Raklan replied. "She tried to kill you, so you try to kill her. Self-defense right?"

Serif sighed. "I believe my brutish friend is trying to say he values his life more than that of a stranger."

"A stranger who tried to kill you both." Raklan added while shoveling another large mouthful into his already overstuffed mouth.

"Yeah, but Beth said she's wearing a will-breaker ring." Ethan countered. "If so, I'm not sure she's responsible for her actions."

"If she is wearing one, then someone else made her do what she did." Beth nodded.

Raklan turned to the dark-haired crewman. "How about you Serif? What's the best way to handle a will breaker ring?"

"Don't put one on." Serif replied before taking a measured bite of his pork steak. He had cut it into identically shaped squares and they were impressively close to identical.

"Oh, come on Serif." Raklan said. "You have to know more than that given your experience."

"I have fought them on occasion." Serif replied when he finished chewing.

Raklan rolled his eyes and said something under his breath. Ethan thought he'd said something about using them, but wasn't sure.

"Can we take the ring off without hurting her?" he asked.

"Tough to say." Anthiel replied. "If they're on long enough, then taking them off will outright kill the person."

"Beth said the same thing." Ethan added

"So basically." Alana said. "We either risk her life by taking off the ring or condemn her to a life of slavery."

"If it were me, I know what I'd pick." Ethan said. "I'd rather die than be forced to do someone else's bidding for the rest of my life."

Everyone else agreed except Raklan. "I'd take life; you can always escape if you're alive, but you can't do nothing if you're dead."

Everyone ignored him.

"So, we're agreed then, we'll take the ring off of her?" Ethan asked.

Everyone but Raklan nodded; he was too busy stuffing his face with pickles to answer verbally, but the look on his face made his opinion clear enough.

"Better sooner than later." Anthiel said.

Ethan nodded, wolfed down the last bite of salt pork, and stood up.

"Serif, Raklan; you're on watch duty." Anthiel turned to Ethan. "Lead on."

Ethan led Anthiel, Alana, and Beth below the main deck to the storage area of the lower deck. The stairs between the main weather deck and the lower deck were located directly under the stairs from the weather deck up to the quarterdeck. The Argo's lower deck was fairly dark since most of the light came from small round windows cut into the side of the hull.

The main storage area was in the stern, right under the captain's cabin. Rachel had been hogtied, blindfolded and gagged. She was clearly not happy and was struggling with her ropes in vain. Her wrists and ankles had been rubbed raw and there were traces of blood on the ropes.

Ethan looked at Anthiel.

"She's a mage." Anthiel explained. "It was either this or drug her senseless so she didn't burn the ship down because we don't have the proper equipment to restrain a magic user."

"Rachel, this is Ethan." He said to the redhead. "Someone put a will-breaker ring on your finger and we're going to take it off."

For a moment, Rachel relaxed and a smile started to cross her face, then her ring glowed dimly and she started thrashing harder than ever and she tried to speak. He couldn't tell what she was trying to say, but it didn't sound fit for polite company.

"I think that means she wants it off." Alana said.

"Anthiel, Beth, and I will hold her, can you get the ring off?" Ethan asked Alana, who nodded.

Despite the fact that Rachel was hogtied and blindfolded, she fought so hard that it took the three of them almost a minute to get her still enough that Alana could start working the ring off Rachel's finger. Ethan half expected Rachel to conjure a fireball, but she didn't. He hoped that was because she was resisting the ring's influence.

"What's the holdup?" Ethan asked after nearly a full minute of Alana struggling to get the ring off Rachel's finger.

"The ring is almost stuck and I don't want to break her finger." Alana said.

"Break it." A soft voice said from behind Ethan.

Ethan turned to see Serif standing there; he had arrived without a single sound to announce his presence.

"Break her finger if you need to." Serif repeated. "If the ring is starting to bind to her flesh, then the enchantment is nearly complete. Fingers will mend, the ring's influence won't unless you get it off now."

Alana struggle for another few seconds, then Ethan heard a soft crack. Rachel screamed in pain, but Alana finally pulled the ring off her finger. Despite the pain Rachel was obviously in, she smiled and relaxed. They stopped holding her down and Ethan pulled the blindfold and gag off.

"Thank you." Rachel said. "I was... was... w..."

Her eyes rolled back in her sockets and she collapsed and lay completely still. Ethan could feel something pass through the air between Rachel and the ring, and he saw a faint green light for a moment. It was vibrant and powerful, but also carried a biting edge that seemed to sting the air.

"The ring has a ripper spell." Anthiel muttered, then waved her hand slowly over Rachel's limp body. "She's not breathing."

Everyone looked somber for a moment.

"We tried." Alana said, but she was biting her lip.

"Don't give up yet." Ethan said. "Serif, can you cut these ropes."

Serif seemed to glide over to Rachel so quickly and gracefully it was disconcerting. In mere moments he produced a razor-sharp knife, rolled Rachel onto her stomach, and sliced all of Rachel's ropes without leaving so much as a scratch. Ethan rolled Rachel onto her back and started CPR, which was more difficult thanks to his dragon's mouth, but he managed.

After a tense fifteen seconds, Rachel coughed and started breathing again. Her breathing was weak and shallow, but she was breathing. She was still unconscious though. Ethan turned around to discover everyone was staring at him.

"That was amazing." Alana said. "I've never seen anything like that."

"I've never read about anything like that." Beth added.

"It's called CPR, and I'll teach you all later." Ethan said. "Right now, is she going to be okay?"

"I don't know." Anthiel said. "I'm not a medic or trained in healing magic, but I know a ripper spell when I see one."

"Ripper spell?" Ethan asked.

"It tears the mana -- or in this case deep mana -- from a victim." Beth said. "It's essentially a magical kill spell if it hits at full power."

"Alana is right." Anthiel touched Rachel again and concentrated. "She is extremely low on deep mana."

"Will she live?" Ethan asked.

"Not without more." Anthiel shook her head. "I'm surprised she's still breathing with how depleted she is. She must have a powerful will to live."

"She needs more deep mana?" Ethan with a groan; the last thing he wanted to bond with yet another woman. "Any volunteers?"

No one did.

"Is there any way I can do it without bonding with her?" he asked.

"Bonds don't form unless it's mutual." Alana said. "She would need to share her deep mana with you while your deep mana is still inside her for a bond to form. Yours should be gone in a week or less. And even then, you don't have to accept it; you can resist or even block it."

"Okay." Ethan breathed a sigh of relief.

"Why would you help her?" Serif asked looking confused and genuinely curious. "This woman tried to kill you twice, but you are risking your life to help her; why?"

"It's the right thing to do." Ethan replied. "Besides, I've done this before so I think I'll be okay."

Serif nodded, though he didn't seem to understand the answer fully.

Ethan turned to Alana and Beth. "Could you two help me replenish my deep mana after I give some to her?"

They both hesitated, looked at each other, then nodded.

"Then I suppose there's no time like the present." He said, and then he got to work.

* * *

Rachel slowly drifted back to consciousness, not that she wanted to. She relaxed, enjoying the simple pleasure of lying in a soft bed doing nothing. She felt like she hadn't just relaxed in ages. There was always this nagging voice in the back of her head pushing to accomplish, to achieve. That's when she realized:

The voice was gone.

"My father is an idiot." Rachel thought while mentally bracing herself for the pain and compulsion to change her mind.

Nothing happened.

There was no pain, no compulsion, and no reprisal whatsoever for her thoughts.

She was free.

Rachel wanted to jump for joy but settled for smiling. She hadn't been able to smile genuinely in far too long. She luxuriated in her new freedom for several minutes before she turned her mind to other questions like where she was and how she got there. Everything was a little fuzzy since that fight with her father in his grand hall.

She opened her eyes to see the underside of a ship deck. Looking around put her in the captain's cabin of an airship. It wasn't a luxury airship, but it was nice enough. Sunlight was streaming in through a large glass-block bay window that covered one wall.

"You're awake." A kind female voice said.

Rachel turned her head to see a wood elf with chocolate brown hair clad in a green dress.

"Hi." Rachel said. "Where am I?"

"You don't remember?"

Rachel shook her head. "It's all kind of fuzzy."

"You're on board the airship Argo. My... friend is the captain. You were wearing a will breaker ring that we managed to pull off of you."

Rachel looked down at her hand. Her father's ring was gone but it left a black mark on her finger where it had been. She rubbed the mark, but it didn't come off. She knew the ring had been made from dragon steel -- which could be enchanted of course -- but for her father to have done that to her...

"I tried some healing magic, but I'm honestly not very good at it." The wood elf said. "I did fix your finger though."

"What was wrong with my finger?" Rachel asked.

The wood elf looked a little sheepish. "I accidentally broke it getting the ring off."

"Oh." Was all Rachel could think to say. "What's your name?"

"Alana, and unless I'm much mistaken, you're Rachel Delmar."

"At your service." Rachel said, and then slowly sat up in the bed. She felt weak, but nothing could have dampened her spirits today. She was finally free from that damned ring. She also noticed she was wearing a dress that looked almost like a nightgown. She didn't ask how she got into it.

"How did I get here?" Rachel asked.

Alana told the whole story of how she had tried to kill her and her friend Ethan a couple of times. However, they had figured out she was being compelled, removed the ring, and how Ethan had given her some deep mana to save her life.

"I remember most of that, but it's a little fuzzy." Rachel said. "Isn't Ethan a dragon?"

Alana nodded. "Yes, and one of the best men I've ever known."

"Thank you for helping me; it would've been a lot easier to just kill me."

"We don't do that kind of thing."

"I'm glad." Rachel replied. "Could you help me up? I would like to thank him in person."

"Sure thing." Alana said.

The wood elf helped her stand and provided a steadying hand to the door of the captain's cabin. Outside, it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the air was warm, and the gentle breeze felt amazing. On deck, a steel grey dragon was sparring with a massive blond crewman who was built like a troll or golem.

Rachel sat down on deck for a minute's rest and watched them spar until they noticed her. Ethan noticed first, which distracted him long enough for the large crewman to whack him soundly on the skull with the training weapon.

"Ow." Ethan said. "I was distracted."

"Yeah, I like my opponents distracted." The large crewman said. "Makes them easier to kill."

"Ignore them." Alana said. "It seems like Ethan's been sparring non-stop since we left port a week ago."

"A whole week?" Rachel said. Her memories were fuzzy, but she didn't think she'd been out that long.

Ethan walked over to her and Alana. "I'm glad to see you're feeling better." He smiled, which was quite welcoming, even if it did display a mouth full of very sharp-looking teeth.

"Me too." Rachel managed to stand back up. "I wanted to say thank you. It's not often you meet someone willing to help a complete stranger, much less a complete stranger who tried to kill him... Twice."

"Well, it's good thing you didn't succeed then?" He replied with another toothy grin.

She nodded. "So, what's the plan? I mean, what will you do with me?"

"We didn't really have a plan." Ethan admitted. "We're heading to Arcanum now that we've escaped Lord Delmar. But beyond that I didn't have any plans for myself, let alone you."

Rachel shook her head in disbelief. "You think you have escaped Lord Delmar?"

"Well, we got away and everyone tells me we're far away from his jurisdiction by now." Ethan said.

"You don't know much about Lord Delmar do you?" Rachel asked. "His influence extends far beyond his own jurisdiction. He has spies and men all over the Ten Kingdoms. In fact, he rules more than half of the lords of men from behind the scenes by proxy. He isn't an emperor, but he's closer to that than a Lord. He has thousands of men and dozens of airships. If you think you're beyond his reach anywhere in the Ten Kingdoms, you are sorely mistaken."

"Oh." He said.

"He's kept his influence mighty quiet if that's the case." Anthiel said from up on the quarterdeck.

"He has." Rachel said. "And I'm sure you've heard he's fanatical when he puts his mind to something."

Everyone nodded.

"Well, I've never seen him chase anyone as hard as he's chasing Ethan here." Rachel said. "I like you folks and all, but you don't stand a chance against him. Certainly not in this little airship. I mean it's nice, but there's no way you'd survive an attack by one of Lord Delmar's scouting parties, much less a full combat group. Unless you have a fleet hidden around here, your best option is to run and hide because you'll lose in a fight."

Rachel paused to take a breath. Why was she so tired? She took a moment to check her mana and instantly discovered the reason. Her regular mana was empty and her deep mana was quite depleted too. Fortunately, it wasn't at a dangerous level and she could replenish it in just a few days.

Curiously though, there was a chunk of deep mana that felt very different than the rest. Nearly half of her deep mana felt foreign, like it wasn't really her deep mana at all. It seemed somehow more solid; denser. Like a rock that had sunk to the bottom of a pool. She tried to move it around but it wouldn't budge.

Somehow, she knew it was the dragon's deep mana. She didn't know how she knew, but she knew. She fortunately couldn't feel any kind of bond between them because she hadn't given him any of hers. However, there was no denying his deep mana was occupying half her total deep mana capacity.

"What should we do?" Alana asked Ethan. Ethan smiled in response, which Rachel found rather odd given what she had just said.

"We have plenty of charcoal on board right, for the cooking fires?" Ethan asked, and Anthiel confirmed it.

"How about sulfur, do we have any of that?" Ethan asked. "It's a yellow element, in our world we used it for medicine and pesticide in ancient times. It smells like rotten eggs. Do we have any?"

"Yeah, we have about fifty pounds for medicinal reasons. Why?" Anthiel asked.

"Then all we need is saltpeter to make gunpowder." Ethan said.

"What's gunpowder?" Alana asked.

"What's saltpeter?" Beth asked as she walked up to join the group.

"It's a white crystalline mineral that comes from... The hind end of most animals." Ethan replied

"I've seen what comes from that end, and it's not usually white." Rachel said.

"You have to purify it first." Ethan said. "Animal crap is the easiest way that I know to get it."

Rachel wasn't the only one to give him a confused look.

"The ingredients to gunpowder are saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal." Ethan replied. "We already have the charcoal and sulfur. If we can refine some saltpeter, we'll have a huge advantage if we get into another airship fight."

"How will this 'gunpowder' help?" Alana asked.

"We can use it to make explosives, maybe even a cannon." Ethan replied.

Rachel -- along with everyone else -- looked at him blankly. She couldn't help thinking he sounded stark raving mad.

"Look, trust me on this." Ethan said. "When we discovered gunpowder back home, it completely changed warfare forever."

"Okay, so where do we get this 'saltpeter' from?" Anthiel asked.

"The best place is from bat and bird droppings." Ethan said. "We need to find someplace around here that has a lot of it."

"We're going to fight Lord Delmar and his fleet of airships with bat shit?" Rachel asked incredulously.

Ethan nodded with a huge smile.

Somehow, that didn't inspire confidence.

* * *

Falkaan looked at the anchored airship far in the distance through his telescope again, just to be sure. "That's them alright."

"Orders?" Damon asked, his gravelly voice matched his grizzled face perfectly.

"We don't have the weapons or men to attack right now." Falkaan replied. "From their course, they're heading to Arcanum. We'll keep our distance, circle around while they're stopped, get to the city first, hire mercenaries, and ambush them when they arrive.

"Aye, Aye captain." Damon said.

"What are they doing?" Falkaan wondered aloud as he peered through the spyglass again.

"You tell me captain, you're the one with the spyglass." Damon said.

He handed the spyglass to Damon, who promptly zeroed in on the tiny airship way in the distance. It was hovering not far off the ground with the anchor down. Several of the crew were on the ground doing something, but Falkaan hadn't believed his dark elf eyes when he saw what.

He looked over the side of his airship. The lower masts were barely ten feet from the tops of the trees. They had flown low and at full sail from Gralden for over a week tailing the dragon's ship, and they hadn't been spotted yet. Damon might have every vice in the book, but his skills as a pilot were second to none. That, and the enchantments on his ship did make it less likely to be spotted. Not invisible or anything, but certainly less noticeable.

"It looks like they're loading bat shit into beer barrels." Damon said, though he clearly didn't believe what he was seeing either.

"That's what I thought too." Falkaan said. "What in Saidow's lair could they possibly want with guano?"

"I don't know." Damon said handing the spyglass back to Falkaan. "Seems like a waste of a perfectly good beer barrel. Good thing they stopped though. We wouldn't be able to circle around them if they hadn't."

"True." Falkaan said. He looked through the spyglass again. Sure enough, the steel gray dragon, two men, and the wood elf were using shovels to load earth into three beer barrels. It was clear the earth was coming from a cave, and -- despite the great distance -- Falkaan's dark elf eyes clearly saw the evidence of the earth being laden with bat excrement.

"Curious; most curious." Falkaan said. He stowed the spyglass and began absent-mindedly stroking the stump of his left arm.

"You think they're up to something?" Damon asked.

"I always assume my prey is." Falkaan replied. "This time though, I genuinely have no idea what it could be. That makes me uneasy."

"Me too captain, but it can't be too bad." Damon said. "I mean, how dangerous could bat shit be?"

"It's seemingly harmless... which is what worries me the most." Falkaan replied. "Criminals are a cunning lot and the more desperate they become, the more dangerous they are. It's not wise to fight a cornered animal, and dragons are the most dangerous of all animals."

"Plus, there's the bounty." Damon said.

"Hmm?" Falk replied.

"I mean, I understand a large bounty for attacking Lord Delmar's guards." Damon said. "But doesn't it seem a little high to you?"

"We've been over this; twice." Falkaan said. "Lord Delmar said he wanted to make an example out of them. You don't kill a half dozen of Lord Delmar's knights without suffering the consequences."

"I know that, but the bounty still seems mighty high."

Falkaan sighed. "The dragon and the elf launched an unprovoked attack on Lord Delmar's knights, killed several of them, and attempted to murder one of his lieutenants. For an attack that brazen I'd say it's high, but not excessively high."

"It's high even for that, if that's what happened."

"That's what Lord Delmar told me himself."

"And Lords are always truthful are they?" Damon asked. "They wouldn't bend the truth for their own gain?"

"You don't believe him?"

"I'm just saying there's usually more going on than the official story." Daman said. "You of all people should know that."

Falkaan grimaced internally. Sadly, he knew exactly how bending the truth on the official story could ruin a man's life.

"There, I've said my peace and I'll let it be." Damon said. "I'm going to get some rum, then circle around. You want some?"

Falkaan shook his head, and started calculating what it would cost to hire enough mercenaries to eliminate the dragon and the wood elf. He could easily afford it and the bounty would cover the price ten times over.

Damon was right, the bounty was too high.

He pulled out his spyglass and began looking at the dragon and his airship again. There was something else going on here between the dragon and Lord Delmar. He just wished he knew what it was.

* * *

Alana threw the last shovel full of guano-laden earth into the last barrel. They had spent the better part of a day finding a cave with bats, then the rest of the day mooring the Argo, lowering the barrels down and filling them. Everyone who was part of the operation was sweaty and tired, herself included.

"That's it." She announced with glee. "Three barrels full of it."

"The barrels aren't the only thing that's full of it." Raklan said under his breath as he glowered at Ethan's back.

"What was that?" She asked with a pointed look at him.

"Nothing." Raklan said. He sealed the barrel, tipped it on its side, then started rolling it toward the Argo.

"Are we finally done?" Alana asked Ethan.

Ethan was leaning on his shovel catching his breath. "Not just yet. Remember, we need to fill one of those barrels brim full of water.

"Oh, that's right." She groaned. "Are you sure this is necessary?"

He nodded. "Trust me, it may seem a little strange but when I'm finished making it, you'll completely understand."

"If you say so." She sighed, and they made their way back to the Argo.

The Argo was anchored about a hundred feet above the ground, with the lower mast only forty feet off the ground. On the bottom of the Argo, a large set of trap doors were open. Coming from the hole was a long rope attached to the corners of a wood platform for loading and unloading in the field. Raklan had just finished rolling the last barrel of guano onto the wooden platform.

Ethan, Serif, Raklan, and Alana all grabbed two buckets each and started walking toward a nearby river. She fully intended to jump into the river when they arrived.

"So, this is a common task where you come from?" Alana asked.

"Not really." Ethan replied. "They found better gunpowders over a hundred years ago so they don't do this anymore. But I don't know how to make the better gunpowders, so here we are. A gun will do a lot to even the odds"

"And what exactly is a gun?" Alana asked

"It's like a crossbow, but it shoots really small arrows faster than the eye can see. They punch through armor like you wouldn't believe. Larger versions were mounted on ships and were used for ship-to-ship combat."

"Which is what you were planning?"

"Actually, I wanted to make some explosive heads for the ballista on the Argo first." Ethan replied. "You could punch a hole as wide as those barrels in the side of an airship with one shot."

Raklan muttered something under his breath that clearly wasn't complementary.

"Less talking, more hauling." Serif said to Raklan, who then fell silent.

They arrived at the slow-moving river. Alana dropped her buckets on the shore and almost ran into the slow-moving river. The water was cold and only three feet deep, but it felt heavenly. She dived into the water with her dress on and let the current carry the filth from the bat cave away. It was just deep enough that she fully submerged herself several times to get her hair some semblance of clean.

"And just what do you think you're doing!?" A high, squeaky voice said when Alana had surfaced.

She looked around to see the head of an extraordinarily beautiful woman sticking up out of the river. She had extremely pale skin and black hair that matched her very large eyes. Her face looked very young, but her eyes looked much older and they were filled with disgust.

"How dare you defile my river!" The woman said, and her voice was shaking as she did so. "I had the cleanest river for a hundred miles before you spread that filthy bat shit into my waters."

"I'm sorry." Alana said taken aback. "I didn't know there was a naiad in this river."

From behind her, Alana heard a catcall. It sounded like Raklan.

"Hi." Ethan called from the bank. "Who are you?"

"I am Nalithea, the guardian of this river." The woman said proudly, though she kept only her head above the water.

"She's a naiad." Alana explained. "They're part of the Fey."

"The filthy wood elf is right. Now get out of my river before I throw you out." Nalithea said as she rose. She seemed to rise straight out of the river, even though it was only three feet deep and she was taller than Alana. She was wearing a dress that almost looked like it was made from seaweed.

Alana stood up and started wading toward the shore. Picking a fight with a member of the Fey folk was never a good idea.

"Now wait a second, who made it your river?" Ethan asked.

"Ethan don't--" Alana started to say, but she was interrupted by an impressively large wave of water literally throwing her out of the river and onto the shore. She managed to roll through the landing, but it still hurt a little.

She glanced at Ethan and saw him trembling slightly. He flexed his fingers and his claws came out. Even more disturbing were the emotions of their bond. She had started to recognize when his dragon instincts were taking over via his emotions. He was teetering on the brink right now.

"How. Dare. You. Hurt. Alana." Ethan said very deliberately and slowly through gritted teeth.

"Like I even care about--" Nalithea stopped mid-sentence. "A wood elf named Alana outside of..."

Her voice trailed off and Alana felt panic start to set in. What if the Naiad recognized her?

"Hey, you are the--" Nalithea began, but Alana cut her off.

[Stop!] Alana shouted in the Fey language. [Don't you dare finish that sentence.]

[Yes mistress.] Nalithea said in the Fey language, and then she bowed respectfully. [Please forgive me, I didn't recognize you.]

[You are forgiven.] Alana said. She looked at Ethan, Serif, and Raklan, all of whom were staring at her in amazement. Ethan was once again fully in control of himself judging by his emotions, which were basically all curiosity.

"What was that about?" Ethan asked.

"Um..." Alana scrambled for a way to explain that wasn't lying and wouldn't leave them with more questions. "She mistook me for someone else at first."

Ethan gave her a strange look.

She hadn't lied exactly, but he didn't seem convinced by her answer. She felt slightly guilty and knew he could feel that through their bond. She determinedly started thinking about happy things that would change her emotions to a happier state.

[I am sorry for almost exposing your identity.] Nalithea said in the Fey language. [Please forgive me. To make amends, I shall spread the word among my sisters that you prefer anonymity.]

[Thank you Nalithea.] Alana replied in the Fey tongue. [May we take some water from your river?]

[Of course, mistress, I would be honored.] Nalithea said with another bow. [May I take my leave?]

Alana nodded, and Nalithea disappeared beneath the surface of the water with barely a ripple to mark her departure. The wood elf breathed a sigh of relief.

"Shall we?" Alana said as she picked up her buckets. The others didn't move; they simply stood and stared at her.

"What are we waiting for?" Alana asked after filling her buckets.

"You can speak Fey." Serif said.

It wasn't a question.

"Yeah, my parents knew a Fey ambassador and he taught me as a favor." Alana replied. It was technically true, though it failed to cover the scope of the favor the Fey ambassador had owed them.

"Your parents must have been influential." Serif said. His eyes narrowed and he was looking at her as if he was sizing up an opponent.

"They were just in the right place at the right time." She didn't like bending the truth, but it was easier on her conscience if she didn't actually say anything that was untrue. As the Fey constantly proved, telling the truth with a few details missing can effectively hide the truth in plain sight.

"Come one, we're burning daylight." She said, filled her buckets, then started back toward the Argo.

She was glad they didn't ask any more questions.

Very glad.

It only took a few trips to fill one of the guano-filled barrels with water from the river. Afterward they climbed up the rope ladder and went to the lower deck to help crank up the platform the Barrels were on.

A rope went from the wooden platform, to a pulley in the ceiling of the lower deck of the Argo, to a large horizontal crank. There was room for six people to walk around in a circle while pushing spokes. The net result was that a few people could easily pull up a couple of tons.

Once the barrels were loaded and stowed away, Ethan leaned up against the side of the ship to catch his breath. Alana yawned, rubbed her eyes, and took a few minutes to catch her wind also. By the time she was done, everyone but Ethan had gone above deck.

"Hey, I wanted to ask you about that naiad." Ethan said.

"Everyone has secrets Ethan; sometimes, it's better that way." She said, figuring that trusting him with her secrets was a bad move if she was trying to create some space between them.

"Fair enough." Ethan replied, but didn't move.

"Was there something else?" Alana asked.

"Yeah." He replied. "I've been running at full mana for a while now. You said earlier that dragons can enchant themselves and I thought I should probably start instead of letting my mana sit unused."

"Good idea. Fortunately, the process is very straightforward... in theory. Enchantments can only stick to mana, and mana can only stick to something that's channeled mana before."

"Like wood, leather, or a dragon." He offered.

"Right. You simply saturate the item with your mana, attach your enchanting spell to the mana, and then bind them together to finish."

"That's it?"

"It's that simple... in theory; the reality is a little more complex than you might think at first glance."

"Sounds like a wood elf I know."

She chuckled in spite of herself and he smiled back. Why did he always have to be so endearing?

"Anyway, that's the basic idea." She said, ignoring his comment.

"Okay." Ethan said. "Sounds simple enough. When do we start?"

"Hold your horses, first, we need to--"

"Hello?" Beth's voice rang through the lower deck. "Ethan? Are you down here?"

"I'm over here." Ethan said.

A few moments later, Beth came into view. She was wearing a blue dress that accentuated her blue eyes. Her blond hair was done up in a simple bun, but it looked like she had spent some time getting it to look just perfect. Alana suppressed a hint of bitterness that Beth had been doing her hair while the rest of them were quite literally shoveling shit... but her staying behind had been the wood elf's idea so she couldn't reasonably complain.

Beth wasn't used to hard work, didn't have any appropriate clothing, and probably wouldn't have been much help. Or at least those were the excuses. The real reason was she wanted some time with Ethan without Beth around. She was painfully aware that she had literally shoveled shit to get that time.

"There you are." Beth said to Ethan. "I was wondering where you went."

"I was just asking Alana to teach me about enchanting." He said.

"Can that wait?" Beth asked. "Now that she's feeling better, Rachel is moving out of the captain's cabin and we have some time to kill..."

She trailed off, leaving Alana in no doubt as to how Beth wanted to fill that time.

"I can finish explaining later." Alana said.

He hesitated for a few moments before addressing the blond. "I'd really like to get started on the enchanting, but I'll make it worth the wait tonight."

They both had a twinkle in their eyes as he spoke. The wood elf suddenly felt rather more jealous of the blue-eyed beauty than she had mere seconds ago. Not that she begrudged her time with her husband -- she didn't -- but she would've done almost anything to be in Beth's place that night.

"I can't wait." Beth grinned and then wandered towards the stairs to the weather deck.

"What?" Ethan asked her as Beth walked away.

"I didn't say anything." Alana replied.

"No, but you sighed."

"I did?"

He nodded.

She blushed. "I must've been out of breath; that was a lot of crap to haul."

He looked at her with his piercing, cat-like eyes for several seconds before raising an eyebrow; or what would've been an eyebrow on an elf.

"What do you want me to say?" She asked trying to keep a scowl off her face as her annoyance grew. "That I'm jealous of Beth? Okay, fine. I'm jealous of Beth. Are you happy now?"

"Anything I can do to help?"

His concern was as much visible in his eyes and felt through their bond. She felt her annoyance evaporate at his sincere concern. Why did he always have to care so much? It would be so much easier if he was a total jerk.

"I'm doing okay Ethan, really I am." She said. "I won't pretend I'm the happiest I've ever been, but I'll be okay."

"Are you sure?" He took a step closer.

She nodded, and unconsciously took a step towards him too. He was so close, and his presence was a soothing balm on her soul as her envy of Beth grew. Her mind drifted back to the dreams she'd had involving him, especially the erotic dreams that had pleasantly surprised her over the last couple weeks. She couldn't choose what she dreamed about, but she didn't complain about the direction they had taken.

He gave her a slight smile. "If there's anything I can do to help -- anything at all -- promise me you'll let me know."

"I will."

He nodded and turned to leave as she thought *marry me* at his back, because that's what she really wanted.

"What?" He stopped mid-step and turned back to look at her, surprise written all over his face.

"I didn't say anything."

"Oh, I thought I heard..." he opened his mouth, closed it, and then cocked his head to one side. "You sure you didn't say anything? Possibly about marriage?"

"No." She said a little too quickly.

"I thought... never mind." He said, but the burning curiosity coming over their bond was hard to ignore. It was her turn to raise an eyebrow. He was so close, she could feel the breath from his nostrils as he exhaled. After several seconds he finally spoke.

"I thought you said 'marry me'."

There was an awkward moment of silence, then at the same moment they both realized just how close they actually were.

There was a moment -- but only a moment -- a brief, infinitesimally short second where there was no embarrassment. For that instant, it felt completely natural for her to be close to him; in his personal space. She felt close to him, and her heart felt like the sun was shining and she was perfectly content.

Then the moment ended.

They both realized they were so close and they quickly stepped backwards away from each other.

"So, you were asking about enchanting." She said to fill the awkward silence.

"Yeah, you said I needed to saturate the item I'm enchanting with mana and attach the enchantment to that."

"Exactly. There's one more thing about enchanting you should know though."

"What's that?" Ethan was looking her in the eye again, though he was still shuffling his feet around a little.

"The more saturated an item is, the more powerful an enchantment it can take. On most things you have only have one chance and must redo everything if you want to make the enchantment stronger. However, dragons are different. Dragons can build up the enchantment's strength over time."

"That sounds like a great thing."

"It is, especially since you're a dragon and could live for a few hundred years."

"A few hundred years?" his jaw dropped

"You didn't know that?"

"I figured dragons were long-lived, but hundreds of years?" Ethan let out a low whistle. "But what about Beth? She's only human and if I'll live a few hundred years..."

"Yes, I don't envy you for that."

"What about elves?" Ethan asked.

"We're very long-lived. Not quite as long as dragons, but still."

"That's why you said I should come find you in a couple decades after Beth..." He grimaced.

She looked down. "Once I've figured out how to block this bond, I'm leaving the Argo. The world is a big place and we might never see each other again after I leave."

Ethan nodded, while Alana felt her eyes begin to get a bit moist. The idea of never seeing Ethan again left a gaping hole in her heart. Apparently, her feelings leaked over their bond.

"I feel the same way." He said.

"Stupid bond."

"Agreed, but still..." He frowned; it was amazing how human a dragon could look with the right expression on his face.

"Still what?"

"I just can't shake the feeling that -- though it seems impossible -- I feel like you'll be around a long time." He smiled at that thought.

"I know what you mean." And she did. Somewhere deep in her spirit -- despite the forces pushing them apart -- she felt exactly the same. It defied all logic and reason, but she had the feeling that they would be together for a long time. She didn't want to dwell on that hope in case it was false, but still...

"I should probably teach you about enchanting before I leave." She finally said to get out of her head.

"Yeah, but let's go to the main deck. I think I need some air."

She nodded.

* * *

Beth found herself drumming her fingers on the railing of the Argo. She was on the quarterdeck and kept glancing at Ethan and Alana. They had spent the last couple of hours talking about enchanting. She found it interesting for a while, but once they got past the theory and down to the actual practicing, the blonde lost interest quickly and wandered away.

She found herself on the quarterdeck listening to Anthiel play some wind instrument. She listened for a while whilst she brooded.

"Copper for your thoughts?" Anthiel said.

Beth turned to look at Anthiel. If Beth was honest, she was a little jealous of her beauty. The high elf's long silver hair framed her face and features perfectly. Her skin was so fair and flawless that Beth would've killed to have skin like that. Not literally of course, but she was one of the most beautiful women Beth had ever seen.

She turned back to watch Ethan and Alana. For the last hour, he had been trying to enchant a small scrap of leather. It didn't seem to be going well. Regardless, the wood elf was a very attentive and patient teacher.

Beth sighed. "He loves her you know."

"I know." Anthiel replied.

"Why doesn't he love me?" Beth wondered idly and Anthiel laughed. Even her laugh sounded like an orchestra perfectly in tune.

"What so funny?" Beth asked, and she could feel her temper rising.

"Silly girl, of course he loves you." Anthiel said without condemnation.

"He doesn't act like it." Beth murmured under her breath.

"And that's the problem right there." Anthiel said. "You don't recognize real love when you see it. If you did, you wouldn't be so worried about him."

"Fine, what's real love then?"

"What do you think it is?"

"I don't know." Beth replied. "It's that feeling you get when you're attracted to someone and always want to be around them."

"If that's the case, can a parent love their child?" Anthiel countered.

Beth opened her mouth to respond but then closed it again. "I guess that's a different kind of love?"

"Okay, so one part of love is a feeling as you pointed out. What about the rest?"

"I have no idea." She wasn't sure what Anthiel was getting at.

"That's because you're young." Anthiel said. "I'm well over five times your age and can tell you this with certainty: Emotions come and go. They strengthen and fade depending on which way the wind blows. Emotions are a truly terrible foundation for a relationship. They may help the relationship, but they aren't a good foundation."

"Then what is?"

"Love." Anthiel replied. "Real, true love. Love is commitment; its action, it's what you DO, not what you FEEL. Love is doing what's best for someone else regardless of what you would lose or gain. It's putting someone else and their well-being before your own. It's making a commitment and choice to put the other person first regardless of what happens. That's love. The feelings often go with it, and they grow over time, but that's love at the core. So let me ask you a question."

"Okay." Beth said.

"Has Ethan always put your well-being before his own?" Anthiel asked.

Beth thought about Ethan rescuing her from Wulvren, agreeing to marry her to save her life and the lives of her family, and then him saving her from Rachel on their wedding night.

"I think he has." Beth said.

"And he continues to do so." Anthiel said. "A blind man could see Ethan and Alana are head-over-heels for each other. Yet despite their powerful attraction -- aided by their bond -- both of them have kept their distance from each other because of you."

"I suppose that's true." Beth said.

"Ethan does love you. And I'm not just talking about his commitment to you; I'm talking about how he feels about you too. He's clearly attracted to you and he puts your needs before his own. Put him and his needs first and, with him doing the same, you'll have a wonderful marriage in no time."

"That's not quite as romantic as the books make it seem." Beth said.

"But it's more real and lasts a LOT longer." Anthiel countered. "It's your marriage and your life. You can do whatever you wish. I'm just letting you know how to have a happy marriage."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." The high elf replied, then started playing her flute again.

Beth resumed leaning on the Argo's railing and staring out at the sky. The sight was truly breathtaking. The sun had just sunk below the horizon and the entire sky was a gorgeous mosaic of red and orange.

"I don't do that very well." Beth said after a few minutes when Anthiel paused her playing. "Putting others before myself I mean."

"Nobody loves well in the beginning." Anthiel replied. "I certainly wasn't the best wife to my husband when I was first married. It takes time and practice to love well. The more you practice, the better you will be at it... Just like everything else."

Beth looked at Ethan and Alana. They were still working at enchanting, but it looked like he was getting frustrated.

Anthiel glanced over at them too. "Speaking of, it looks like he could use a break. Why don't you see if you can convince him to take one?"

Beth nodded, walked down the stairs and headed over to where Alana and Ethan were practicing.

"It doesn't want to stick to the leather though." Ethan said, and his voice was dripping with frustration.

"Of course not; if it was easy everyone would do it." Alana said. She noticed Beth then she added. "How about we take a break."

"Try again tomorrow?" he asked.

"Sure." Alana replied. "Right now, I think your wife wants your attention."

Ethan turned to Beth. "What's up?"

"Nothing." Beth said as her mind went suddenly blank.

"Okay, well I'm hungry if you're up for a bite."

"Sounds good."

As it turned out, Anthiel had anticipated this and already had Raklan drag the cast iron cooking pot and some salt beef up from the hold. They mostly ate in silence and Beth figured it was because everyone was tired from collecting and hauling the guano to the Argo.

Beth spent most of the meal wondering what Ethan was thinking and feeling. She could sense his emotions, but just barely. It was like they were coming over a great distance and it was starting to worry her. She had only recently begun to feel his presence in her mind, but still couldn't get a good read on exactly what he was feeling.

"Alana, can I talk to you for a minute." Beth said once everyone had finished eating.

"Sure." She said, and they moved to a more secluded part of the main deck.

"How long did it take before you could sense Ethan's emotions?" Beth asked.

"Maybe a week, but we were both unconscious for most of it."

"Oh, because it's been a week and I can barely feel them."

Alana frowned. "It's pretty subtle in the beginning."

"I mean, I can feel him, but it's so hard to tell what he's feeling."

"Ah, then just give it time." The wood elf said kindly. "That's exactly how it started with me. He was just a presence at first, it was only later that I could sense his emotions clearly."

Beth nodded, and they chatted for another minute. Once she was alone, Beth started pacing the deck thinking about ways she could speed things up. She had read nearly a dozen books that touched on the topic of bonds, but none of them were specific about how long it took for the bond to begin manifesting. She hated waiting, and there wasn't even a library on the Argo to fill the time.

However, she did have a husband and now that Rachel was out of their room...

* * *

Alana could see the glint in Beth's eye from a mile away. Less than a minute later, she felt some arousal coming over her bond with Ethan. Barely a minute after that, they disappeared into the captain's cabin.

Alana looked at the sunset trying to keep her mind off their bond and what they were about to do in the captain's cabin. It was an incredible sight -- the sunset, not them disappearing into the cabin. The sky was a mural of reds, oranges, pinks, and purples and the sun had just dipped below the horizon. It reminded her of the first time she had flown on Ethan's back. Of course, that reminded her of the second trip, the conversation that followed, and how he would never be able to be with her.

Suddenly, the sunset wasn't appealing.

She went below decks and flopped down in her hammock to think, but Ethan's emotions over the bond kept interrupting her. He was very aroused and there was no denying he was attracted to Beth. She didn't blame him. Beth was young, beautiful, had a good body, long sexy legs, and very shapely breasts--

She shook her head; where did that thought come from?

The emotions coming over her bond didn't help. He was clearly very aroused and lust for Beth was flowing freely over their bond.

She took a deep breath. "Get ahold of yourself Alana."

The more she tried to ignore the feelings coming over the bond, the less she wanted to ignore them. The moment she started paying attention, she could feel another set of instincts in Ethan's head. It was strange, almost like there were two completely different sets of conflicting emotions warring for control.

One set of emotions felt like a warm blanket by the fireside on a cold winter's day. It oozed warmth, care and a desire to protect. It was everything Alana had come to associate with Ethan.

The other set of emotions was different.

There was a visceral edge to them. They reflected the primal hunger, lust, and need that permeated the second set of emotions. They made Alana feel like she was a mouse feeling the emotions of some great cat as it played with its food. She felt simultaneously almost scared but also captivated by this raw force of nature.

Alana shook her head trying to clear it.

Looking into that part of Ethan's emotions was scary, and not just scary because it frightened her.

It was scary because she liked it.

She liked feeling of raw power that Ethan exuded when the dragon took over. She hated what the dragon did. But something -- perhaps their bond -- made it hard to look away; even when the dragon was flooding their bond with pure unadulterated lust.

It was raw, it was powerful, and something about it made her want to surrender control and let the lust completely sweep her away. The more she looked, the more she wanted to submit to it.

It took a titanic effort of will, but she stopped looking at that side of Ethan's emotions.

As Alana came to her senses, she realized the area between her thighs was wet, and not just a little wet either. She felt down to discover a small wet spot had formed where the moisture had dripped down and landed on her dress

"What in Illuminar's name?" Alana said as she felt it. She had never been so happy her dress was enchanted to be self-cleaning.

The last time Ethan and Beth had 'done it' it had hurt enough that she found it easier to ignore. This time though there was almost no emotional reaction. Her mind didn't like the fact that Ethan and Beth were probably having incredible sex right now. However, what she thought and what she felt didn't line up at all. Her emotions felt about the same as they would if Ethan and Beth were having a casual conversation.

Her body was screaming in joy.

The cognitive dissonance was overwhelming, as was the arousal coming from their bond. Unconsciously, Alana let her hand drift down under her dress to her sopping-wet clitoris. It wasn't until she had given it a gentle rub that she realized where her hand had traveled.

"Okay Alana, take a deep breath." She told herself.

What she really wanted right now was to jump in a cold lake or river. She needed to calm down. She wasn't going to masturbate to the idea of Ethan and Beth having sex.

She wasn't.

There was no way.

She would never.

The wood elf gently rubbed her clit and arcing tendrils of pleasure shot through her loins. She moaned out loud. Her mind didn't like the idea of Ethan and Beth having sex. But her emotions didn't mind and her body certainly didn't mind.

She rubbed again and breathed a soft sigh of relief as the pleasure she so ached for rippled through her body again. Her mind drifted to what it would be like for Ethan to do the rubbing. To have his hands lovingly caress her most intimate places as he whispered sweet nothings into her ears.

Another moan of pleasure, followed by more rubbing.

Unbidden, her one brief glimpse of Ethan's cock came to mind. He was big, even while soft and she knew they got bigger. She wondered what it would be like if Ethan was free to wed her. What would their wedding night be like? How would it feel to have a part of Ethan enter her most intimate depths?

Wondering soon led to imagining.

Imagining led to more rubbing.

Idly, she wondered what Ethan was doing to Beth right now. He was probably already inside of her. He probably was thrusting back and forth inside of Beth as untold amounts of bliss coursed through her.

Alana's mind protested and her emotions shrugged, but her body responded edging closer to an orgasm as she imagined herself in Beth's place. She imagined that Ethan -- her Ethan -- made tender love to her for hours on end. She imagined their bodies spending hours proclaiming their love without words.

She wanted it so badly.

If only.

She imagined him spraying his potent seed into her fertile womb. She shuddered as she imagined what it would be like to carry his brood...

Wait, what?

Carry his brood?

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she'd never felt like that before. She didn't think things like that; it just wasn't her. She wanted children, but for some reason, the idea of 'carrying his brood' heightened her arousal.

She imagined him bending her over a bed and thrusting deep into her core. She imagined how it would be when they were as close as physically possible as his cock spread her, pumping his cum into her womb and impregnating her. She wanted to be bred like a mare; wanted to feel his brood growing in her womb. She wanted to have a baby bump as proof to the world that he -- The Dragon -- had claimed her body.

Alana shook her head trying to clear it.

That wasn't her.

But the more she thought about it the wetter she got. Her nipples were erect and straining pleasurably against the fabric of her dress as she thought about carrying Ethan's brood and birthing them into the world.

"Oh God." Alana breathed as the thought of Ethan breeding her drove her right to the edge of orgasm.

With every ounce of her willpower, Alana forcibly removed her hand from between her legs. Something was wrong; very wrong. This wasn't her. These desires weren't hers. Yes she wanted kids, but this powerful arousal at the idea of Ethan getting her pregnant...

Alana's hand was already halfway back to her clit before she stopped it.

That wasn't for her.

Beth was married to Ethan, not her. It would be her exquisite pleasure to feel Ethan's cum deep inside of her. Beth would get to feel the sensation of being heavy with his brood, not her.

But why only her...

An image sprang to her mind that she found both shocking and highly arousing.

It was The Dragon.

The Dragon bending both her and Beth over a massive bed. The Dragon thrusting deep inside of her until he pumped his seed into her womb, but not all of it. Alana imagined him spending half his seed inside of her, then moments later thrusting deep inside of Beth and spending the other half inside of the blond teen.

She imagined seeing Beth's naked body glistening with sweat. She imagined her long blond hair slightly damp with moisture, her eyes hooded with lust, her small, shapely breasts heaving as she struggled to catch her breath, those slender legs which flowed into wide hips that were perfect for bearing Ethan's young.

The panting wood elf balled her fingers into fists to stop touching herself again.

Then an unbidden image came to her mind. Beth, with her long, smooth slender legs splayed wide open, her pussy exposed for her to see and dripping Ethan's cum. It seemed a travesty to allow so precious a commodity to go to waste, so she imagined herself crawling forward and lapping it from Beth's glistening slit in front of Ethan. The idea was so powerfully erotic, that it took every ounce of her willpower not to resume stroking her clitoris.

Her mind was horrified.

Her emotions didn't care.

Her body was ecstatic.

Something was wrong. Her brain was screaming that this wasn't her. Never before in her life had she imagined bedding another woman. She wouldn't; she couldn't.

After a long-pitched battle, Alana's mind and willpower won out... barely. She had to nearly lay on her hands to avoid using them to bring herself to orgasm. She wanted to -- by Illuminar she wanted to. However, she refused to give in to her impulses, no matter how good they felt.

And they felt amazing.

She was especially worried about how arousing it felt to imagine being bred at the same time as Beth. She didn't want to admit it, but she was starting to like the idea of sharing a bed with the blond teen. And the idea of Ethan breeding them both at the same time...

It scared her how much she liked it. There was another wave of lust over her bond with the dragon and she worked extra hard to keep herself calm.

It would be a long, hard night.

* * *

Beth waited with bated breath as she stared into The Dragon's eyes. His gaze was as good as a pussy massage in Beth's book. She had been unable to look away and her arousal had hit new heights every few seconds.

Her naked body was tingling all over and her bare nipples were hard in both arousal and in response to the cool cabin air. She could see Ethan warring with his instincts -- The Dragon -- in his eyes. It felt like they were fighting over her and that turned her on even more.

Then she saw it; The Dragon won.

Suddenly, The Dragon's hand shot out and grabbed Beth's hair. In one smooth motion, he turned her around, pinned her arms behind her back, and bent her over the bed.

Beth barely had time to cry out before The Dragon penetrated her fully in one powerful thrust. The head of his cock rammed against the entrance of her young womb with such force that Beth's hips slammed into the bed.

Beth cried out, though whether it was in pleasure or pain she didn't know. She was helpless, completely trapped by this magnificent creature. She was so utterly dominated that she couldn't have moved if she wanted to.

She loved it.

She had no control of any kind. He had forced her into submission on their wedding night and now again Beth was reminded of her place. The Dragon owned her, it controlled her and it was her lord and master. Beth closed her eyes and let the dragon take her completely.

He owned, her, she merely existed for him and his pleasure. She didn't even know when she'd started thinking this way, she only knew it brought her arousal to new heights when she contemplated her absolute submission to this powerful dragon. Anything he wanted, she knew she would give without hesitation because he was her lord and master.

And he wanted Alana...

Unbidden, the thought of the tiny wood elf came to mind. She was completely naked, her beautiful chocolate brown hair spread about the bed as Ethan mounted her. She imagined that she was tied up; restrained across the room and forced to watch as Ethan pleasured his first mate.

The dragon continued to thrust deep inside of her and she imagined Alana in her place. She imagined she would be helpless to stop as she watched the dragon's enormous cock spread the elf wide open. She imagined the look of pure ecstasy on her face as she felt it for the first time.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, it felt so deliciously wrong. She didn't want to think about it, but simply couldn't stop herself. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get that image out of her head.

She felt a strange sort of thrill as she imagined this powerful dragon claiming another mate. She felt somehow like she was showing him off. Some part of her liked that he was powerful enough to claim another woman as his own.

The thought pushed her right over the edge.

Her entire body locked up, her spine arched and she grabbed wildly at the sheets, trying to somehow survive the titanic orgasm that was sweeping over her. She moaned and almost screamed, needing to release the energy somehow.

Still, the dragon hammered into her.

She knew she'd been bad, trying to keep one of the dragon's mates from him. She felt the need to be punished, and another fantasy unfurled. The dragon ordering her to 'apologize' by sucking his cum from Alana while simultaneously bringing her to orgasm. She would be forced to pleasure the wood elf as penance for her bad behavior.

She could feel another orgasm building at the thought. She took every ounce of her willpower and tried to think of something else; anything else. She didn't want to imagine pressing her soft tongue into Alana's sopping wet pussy...

But she did.

The idea was too captivating and too erotic. Her second orgasm built to a crescendo as the fantasy swirled around in her head, then unceremoniously pushed her headlong into another climax.

It would be a long, wonderful night.

* * *

Ethan woke up feeling very disoriented. He remembered Beth pulling him into the bedroom last night. He remembered starting with some loving foreplay, but before they had even taken their clothes off, his memory faded into a blur; no doubt the dragon's fault. He rolled over and saw Beth sleeping next to him in bed.

She was completely naked and the covers lay in a tangled mess at the foot of the bed. Her small, perky breasts rose and fell in her sleep, their nipples peaked and hard with arousal. Her pussy was wet, and there was a line of dried white cum on her thighs. Three of Ethan's balls felt wonderfully empty while the fourth was painfully full.

It was the one he'd grown after bonding with Alana of course.

Somehow, he knew it would never empty until he took her to bed. That thought made him grow hard, and his cock slid from its sheath. Unbidden, an image of Alana spread out naked and inviting before him came to his mind. His full testicle throbbed at the thought, and he longed to empty its contents into her. His cock accurately reflected exactly what his dragon side thought of the idea.

The dragon in him longed to take both Alana and Beth to bed at the same time. The dragon wanted to force them to pleasure each other and then himself, before he impregnated them both. He tried to clear his mind, but the dragon wouldn't let it go. He didn't either, but he was getting a slightly painful case of blue balls; or rather blue ball -- singular.

His dragon side relented.

Shaking his head, he got up and walked out of the captain's cabin.

It was early morning and the sun had just risen behind some clouds in the east. The deck was deserted, except for Anthiel and Rachel. Anthiel was playing an instrument up on the quarterdeck near the ship's wheel. Rachel was staring listlessly out into space at the front of the ship. At least, it looked like she was staring. Her flame-colored hair made it hard to tell from the back.

"Penny for your thoughts." Ethan said after walking up to her.

"What's a penny?"

"It's a tiny copper coin from my home." Ethan said.

"Home." Rachel repeated the word like it sounded foreign to her. "I hear they're a nice thing to have."

"They are." Ethan replied. "You didn't have one?"

"I had a place to live." Rachel said. "I was fed, clothed, and taken care of, but it never felt like home. The maids said it was different before my mother died, but I don't remember her."

"How'd she die?" Ethan asked.

"An illness when I was little." Rachel replied. "She died before my second birthday, and I've heard rumors that my father was behind her catching the disease."

Ethan's jaw dropped. Not only was it shocking but the calm, matter-of-fact way she spoke about it was unnerving. "He did that?"

"I don't know, maybe? He's incredibly cruel, but he also can be very tender-hearted. When I was about five, I found a rabbit hurt in the woods. He helped me bind its wounds and I convinced him to let me keep it as a pet. His name was Theodore."

"Good name."

Rachel nodded. "I tended to that rabbit for months and my father -- the 'evil' Lord Delmar -- helped me take care of it. He was always gentle with Theodore. He never hurt him and he would even eat out of my father's hand."

"That doesn't sound like the Lord Delmar I keep hearing about, or the one I met."

"There's more." Rachel said as a dark shadow crossed her face. "Theodore escaped one day and a guard who didn't know he was mine killed him. I cried for days, and one of my handmaidens told me that my father put the guard in stocks for almost a week, tortured him for a couple of days, and then had him beheaded, drawn, and quartered as punishment."

Ethan found himself speechless.

"Yeah, I know." Rachel only seemed a little pained by the memory, but she did seem pensive.

"Was he so unpredictable all the time?" Ethan asked.

"Yes. Sometimes he was the sweetest father in the world. Sometimes he was the cruelest tyrant in the whole land. It seemed like which one he was depended on the weather."

"That's a hard way to grow up."

"He wasn't like that with me." Rachel said. "He was always stern, but never cruel to me. Not until..." Rachel trailed off and looked away.

"Until what?" Ethan asked.

She didn't answer his question. "I'm just wondering why he was like that. It was like living with two completely different fathers; one kind, one cruel."

"You're getting at something." Ethan said.

"Maybe."

"What?"

She hesitated for several seconds before responding. "It's not important. It's not like I have a home to go back to."

"I know the feeling." He nodded. His entire life on Earth was pretty much gone. He only had two good friends and they'd run off together and stolen his business. His parents cared, but they lived several states away so he didn't see them often.

They stood together in silence for several minutes before she broke the silence. "What's it like having a home?"

"It's like..." Ethan trailed off trying to figure out how to describe what it felt like growing up in his parents' home. "It's like having a sanctuary. It's having a place in this crazy world where you know you'll be safe and cared for no matter what. It doesn't matter how bad things get or what you've done, it's a place you'll always be loved and accepted. Though really, it's the people that make it a home and not the place."

"Sounds nice." Rachel said, then fell silent.

"Yeah, I'd like to have one again."

Rachel gave him a weak smile. "Alana and Beth adore you, Anthiel respects you, and you have the Argo. Maybe it doesn't feel like a home now, but it will."

"In that case, mi casa es su casa." Ethan said.

"Huh?" Rachel turned to look at him.

"It's from a language in my world." Ethan said. "Roughly translated, it means 'my house is your house'. You're welcome to make the Argo your home as long as you like, or until you find somewhere better."

Rachel's eyes got rather watery. She blinked several times and looked away. "Why would you say that? I tried to kill you and Alana. Twice."

"It wasn't you; it was the will breaker ring." Ethan replied. "I haven't known the real you very long, but you seem like a good person."

"Thank you." Rachel said. Ethan couldn't see her face, but it looked like she was surreptitiously wiping her eyes.

"I don't know what I'd do here though." Rachel said. "I can't just sit around and do nothing."

"There's one job that you'd be perfect for." He said. "I need someone to fire the cannons when we can get them made."

"What's a cannon?"

"It's a weapon that'll knock your socks off when you see how effective it is. I think your affinity for fire would be a great help in using them."

"Okay." Rachel said, though she didn't look sure of what he meant.

As he picked out a plan for her to help, Ethan couldn't help wondering where he fit into the whole equation. He was living on a borrowed ship, in another world, and -- except for two weapons and cube of gold -- he didn't own a single thing.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Rachel said after he had fallen silent.

"I'm just wondering about my place in this world." Ethan said. "I have literally no clue what I'm doing here."

"Welcome to the guild."

Ethan chuckled. "Yeah, I guess most people fall into that category."

"You help people." The redhead said after several seconds. "That's what you do."

"Huh?"

"You help people." She repeated. "You've been in our world around a month and you've already gone out of your way to help at least three people. Most people don't do that. Most people only care about themselves, not others. You're different. You do the opposite and the world needs that badly."

"Thanks, but I also put them in danger in the first place, so I'm not sure it counts." Ethan replied.

"You didn't put Alana or me in danger." Rachel countered. "She was about to be eaten and the will-breaker ring was attacking me long before you arrived."

Ethan nodded.

"Maybe that's your place in this world." Rachel continued. "Maybe helping others is something you're good at. Maybe that's your calling"

"I could live with that. It doesn't exactly come with a manual though."

"Life rarely does."

"You know, you're pretty wise." He said looking at the redhead with a newfound respect.

"Thank you. It's amazing what I've learned about myself since getting that ring off."

"It's only been a couple days." Ethan said.

"I know." She replied, but didn't elaborate.

Ethan heard the door to below decks open. He looked behind him to see Alana coming sleepily above decks. Her hair was a complete bedhead mess and she was yawing, but God she looked beautiful.

"Morning." Ethan said to her.

"Morning." Alana looked up, blushed, and didn't meet Ethan's eye as she replied. Embarrassment was flooding over their bond, but he couldn't tell what she was embarrassed about.

"Are you okay?" Ethan asked. Her air was a mess, there were dark circles under her eyes, and she looked like she hadn't slept well -- if at all -- last night. She also looked extremely frustrated.

"Rough night." Alana said after several moments, but she still didn't meet his eye. Ethan opened his mouth to ask, but she cut him off.

"Don't ask."

He nodded. Judging from her tone, grumpiness and all the yawning, she'd had an awful night.

* * *

Over the next week, Ethan mostly split his time between combat training with Serif and trying to learn enchanting with Alana. Neither was going very well. He was improving, but he still lost every match; Serif was just too good and never let Ethan win.

Enchanting training was going even worse. Ethan spent hours every day trying in vain to get an enchantment to stick to a piece of leather, but it wasn't going well at all.

He had failed every time so far.

The only thing he enjoyed during this week was his daily flight. Every morning, he took off and flew around the Argo. He still loved the feel of the wind on his wings and the sight of the ground below him. Despite his unusual circumstances and the looming danger, he had never been happier in his life.

Beth was a constant presence, and a welcome one at that. The idea of falling in love after you got married was foreign to Ethan, but he completely understood it happening with someone like her. Her constant bright spirits and sunny disposition made her a favorite with everyone on the crew, especially himself.

Beth and Alana were even getting along pretty well, a fact for which he was very grateful.

Another exciting thing was the prospect of making gunpowder. After letting the water sit in the first barrel for two days, he -- with begrudging help from Serif and Raklan -- poured the water in the second barrel. After two days in the second barrel, the water went into the third barrel.

Everyone else on the Argo was very confused, but Ethan knew the water was now filled with nitrates. With a little more refining, he would have enough saltpeter to make a decent amount of gunpowder. He just needed to boil it down to finish it, and for that he needed a pot.

"Absolutely not." Anthiel said.

"You're sure we don't have another pot?" Ethan asked again.

"We only have two, and we use both for food." Anthiel said. "There's no way I'm putting that bat shit water in a pot for food."

"I know that, but can't we use the other one?" Ethan asked. "If you have two and we only need one..." Ethan trailed off at the look Anthiel gave him.

"And if something happens to that one?" Anthiel asked. "Do you want to just float across the sky without a way to cook food?"

"Good point." Ethan replied. "We'll have to get another pot when we get to Arcanum."

"You won't need to wait long." Anthiel said. "Your dragon eyes should be able to see it on the horizon."

Ethan looked toward the front of the ship and could indeed see something on the horizon. It took another hour for him to see it clearly though.

Arcanum was huge.

It was at least twenty times the size of Gralden, probably more. Ethan had never been good at geometry or estimating distances, but he guessed the city covered at least a couple of square miles. It also looked wealthier than Gralden by a fair margin. Whereas Gralden had defined rich and poor areas, Arcanum had many more shades of gray.

At the center of the city were large spires that looked like a cross between the Eiffel Tower and the Seattle Space Needle. They weren't nearly as tall, but Ethan guessed they were ten or twelve stories at least. The spires had glass walls and large bulbous rooms at the top that made them look like upside-down sprouted onions. They towered over the surrounding buildings, which were two or three stories maximum.

Near the spire buildings was a large arena that looked a lot like the Roman Coliseum. Not far away, was a massive building in the shape of a seven-pointed star with a central dome. It looked like a temple or cathedral, only in the shape of the sun.

Not far from the spire buildings -- situated near the wealthiest area of town -- was a dock for airships. There were at least a dozen airships in the air, all of them larger than the Argo. The largest was almost three times the Argo's length, and looked heavily armed with large Ballistae.

"Wow." Alana said as she looked at the city. "I've never seen anything so big. It's like it goes on forever."

"Yeah, it's impressive." He agreed. He was especially curious how they'd built all this without modern industrial equipment. Of course, the Egyptians had built the Pyramids and they didn't have magic so he supposed it wasn't too surprising.

Anthiel skillfully brought the Argo into dock at one of the smaller airship berths. Once the ship was anchored, Serif and Raklan tied several mooring lines to bollards on the dock to keep it in place.

"So, now what?" Ethan asked once everyone gathered on deck and he had activated his disguise gem. "I know we're here to talk to some wizards, but how do we go about doing that? Is there some kind of protocol?"

"I guess we'll just have to find a wizard and start asking." Alana said, then turned to Anthiel. "Unless you have a better idea?"

Anthiel shook her head. "Nope, I never spent much time with anyone in Arcanum unless they were in a tavern."

"So, I guess we start walking towards those spires and hope for the best then?" Ethan said.

"You go." Anthiel said. "Serif, Raklan, and I will watch the ship."

"Do you mind if I come?" Rachel asked. "I would love to hang around some real wizards. My father only had a few mages at the castle."

"Is there a difference between wizards and mages?" he asked.

"Absolutely." Rachel said. "A mage is just an ordinary magic user. A wizard is also called an arch-mage. They are the mages who've learned how to tap the Ether directly for mana."

"You can do that?" Ethan asked.

"Of course." Anthiel said. "But it's quite dangerous."

"Many of the mages who attempt to tap the Ether directly don't survive." Rachel explained. "They end up drawing too much and the volume of pure mana kills them."

"Wow." He said. "And of course you can come Rachel, the more the merrier."

He led Alana, Beth, and Rachel off the ship and they started walking toward the tall spires. Arcanum was just as interesting from the ground as from the air. On every street, there were little shops selling their wares and many of them were clearly exotic or enchanted. Twice, Alana and Beth had to pull him away from little shops that sold trinkets made out of gold and silver. The dragon in him objected, but he managed to keep it under control.

After twenty minutes of walking, he felt something in the air. It felt like magic, but it had a hostile, biting edge to it and it made the scales on the back of his neck stand up. It seemed to come from an alley that was oddly deserted. His sense of unease increased dramatically.

Beth stumbled slightly, then looked up with strangely unfocused eyes and said in a strangely monotone voice. "We should cut through this alley. It will be faster."

"Yeah, but I don't like the looks of it." Ethan said. "Come on, we'll go around."

"No, it will be okay." Beth said in the same monotone voice, then strode purposefully -- if a bit stiffly -- down the alley ahead of them. Ethan felt from Alana exactly what he was feeling himself; something wasn't right. He looked down the alley after her trying to decide what was making him uneasy.

*I suppose we should go after her.* He heard Alana say.

He nodded and looked at her. "You're probably right."

She looked confused. "I didn't say anything."

"You didn't?" Ethan said.

The wood elf shook her head.

"Oh, but I could've sworn..." Ethan trailed off.

"Are you coming?" Beth asked -- her voice still slightly monotone -- from halfway down the alley.

Ethan glanced at Alana and Rachel, judging from their expressions, they didn't like the look of the alley either. However, they both sighed, nodded, and together the three of them started after Beth. They had almost reached her when she started shaking her head and blinking her eyes.

"I feel..." she looked around. "How'd we get here?"

That's when it clicked, and he cursed his inexperience with magic for falling for it. The magic in the air, Beth's sudden strange tone and behavior, and now her return to normalcy after entering the alley; plus the uneasy feeling...

They'd made a terrible mistake entering the alley.

Ahead of them, nearly a dozen armed men closed off the way ahead. They turned around to see another dozen men block their escape back to the Argo. The buildings on this alley didn't have doors or windows. Glancing up, Ethan saw a dark-skinned elf with half an arm missing looking down at them from atop one of the buildings.

The men drew their weapons and started advancing toward them.

They were trapped.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Note: This chapter began on day 25 of Ethan's life in the Ten Kingdoms and ended on day 40.

STORY TAGS: dragon, fantasy, elf, teen, romantic, virgin, harem, brunette, blonde, redhead