Chapter 29: ... Nor Iron Bars a Cage

I self-edit and admit editing isn’t my greatest skill. I apologize in advance for anything I missed.

Leaning on the Argo’s railing and looking out over the verdant green hills lit by the late afternoon sun, Alana smiled as her heart grew lighter. Her husband and fellow wives had escaped and it seemed like they were safe in their escape. She still missed him terribly, but just knowing that he was okay and that she’d be seeing him soon made a huge difference. Her heart ached for him and for her best friend, who thankfully had finally married her husband.

It was about time.

She was hoping she might get to be present on the couple’s wedding night, but knew that Rachel might not be comfortable with that. Even if she was, Ethan might want her to himself for a night. Every woman deserved a wedding night; she had certainly enjoyed hers. She resolved to fully enjoy the gorgeous Ivernian landscape before her.

She sighed contentedly as she gazed at it.

“I know what you mean.” Beth said walking up to lean on the railing beside her. The lovely blonde was right next to her so they were gently touching; it was an affectionate move that the wood elf appreciated.

“I can’t believe how pretty this land is.” She said running her hands through her chocolate hair. “I think I’ll ask Ethan if we can all settle down here eventually.”

Beth frowned. “I agree, but it’s Lord Farbrottan’s land.”

Alana let her shoulders slump. “What’s that expression that Ethan sometimes uses? ‘Every paradise has its serpent’ or something like that?”

“Sounds right.” The blonde nodded. “I wouldn’t mind moving here, and much of my father’s southern border abuts Ivernia’s northern one.”

“Ivernia.” The wood elf smiled. “It’s a pretty name for such pretty country.”

“Agreed.”

The wood elf looked down to see a bubbling brook feeding into a pond in the middle of a clump of trees. Nearby, there were cows grazing in a pasture and chickens running hither and thither foraging for bugs and other things. It was idyllic.

“You know, it had occurred to me many times that we could turn the Argo around and go back to Nalatia to wait until they’ve escaped.” Beth said almost guiltily.

“It had occurred to me too, but...” She sighed. “As much as I want to see Ethan, this is what he asked us to do. He didn’t make the suggestion, but he definitely wanted us to go help Selene and investigate why she’s here. Until he tells me otherwise, that’s what I’m going to do.”

Beth looked at her. “How do I get to be like that?”

“Like what?”

“You’re such a strong woman, but you’re gentle too.” The blonde replied. “You’re so competent and you’re carrying on without Ethan here; I feel like I’d give anything to just to see him right now.”

“I know how you feel.” The wood elf admitted. “But I think part of being a good wife is supporting your husband even when there’s something else you’d rather do. We’ll arrive at the inn in a few minutes, so it makes no sense to turn around now.”

“I wish you weren’t right; I miss him.”

Alana gave her an understanding nudge with her shoulder. “So do I dear girl, so do I.”

“That’s disgusting.” Kendra heard herself say as she looked at the strange half-man, half dragon corpse. She was tempted to add that the sight was less nauseating than seeing Ethan be affectionate with his wives, but resisted.

“You’ll get no argument here.” Ethan replied as they surveyed the strange corpse before them.

“There’s more.” The dragon huntress said, nodding to a far corner of the room.

On the far side of this second room were about a half dozen other specimens similar to the one in the middle of the room. The one they’d seen first was the least draconic. The rest appeared to be in more advanced stages of transformation, but none was complete. They all looked like they had died in excruciating agony though. There was also a general trend. They were clearly getting more like dragon-like with each successive iteration.

“That shouldn’t be possible.” Rachel said, looking a bit green around the gills. “Transfiguration is doable, but incredibly hard and no one does it on living creatures because it always kills the creature. Plus it takes a ton of mana. To transform a living being like this, and a man at that...” She sucked in her breath through her teeth and shook her head.

Kendra felt a not insignificant amount of revulsion at the idea that someone was turning men into dragons. It was a perversion of everything that she held sacred, especially the dividing line between dragons and men; that at least should be inviolable.

“It looks like they were keeping a dragon here too.” Ethan nodded towards a cage, around which appeared to be a few random scorch marks on the wooden walls.

“Yeah, ‘were’ is right.” Rachel pointed to a rather large bloodstain inside the cage. It didn’t look to be that old, but neither was it fresh and wet.

Kendra frowned.

For a long time, her instinctive reaction to seeing evidence of a dragon’s demise had been to smile. This time though, she didn’t. While she certainly wasn’t sad about it, it didn’t give her the sense of joy it once had.

Hmm.

Curious.

“Come on, we can’t stay here all day.” Ethan finally said and turned to leave.

Kendra followed him out of the room, only realizing after she did that she appeared to have a real problem with following commands given by this particular dragon. That didn’t sit well with her, especially since she could see their bond slowly growing in strength. That was despite the additional reinforcements that she’d added to her mental fortress to keep him out of her head.

She did what little she could to make her defenses even stronger.

“Okay, one more room.” He said as he tried to open it. It was locked.

“Allow me.” Kendra said while activating her strength enhancing vambraces. A few moments later, the lock gave. The action probably made her look super strong, but the lock was pretty flimsy. It was probably more to stop guards from snooping than to offer any real security.

The room was quite small and looked like it was used more for storage than anything else. It was nearly empty of contents except for...

Kendra’s jaw dropped as her eyes widened.

Behind her, Rachel gave a low whistle.

The dragon huntress couldn’t believe her eyes and her mouth curved upwards into her first real smile since ... since her last hug from Taloni.

Jackpot!

Selene sighed as she stood where the two roads met at the outpost. As usual, her boss had sent her outside to use her beauty to attract customers. It worked, at least according to Sarah. Apparently they’d had a few more people than normal stay at the inn since the Brazilian woman had started. Most wanted to pass right by without so much as looking at the inn, but the rest didn’t take much convincing.

She sighed again.

She didn’t like being a glorified lawn ornament and using her face and body to attract customers. A part of her felt dirty for doing so — like she was barely better than a prostitute — but it worked and she certainly wasn’t doing anything sexual. She shook her head as a large shadow crossed the earth nearby. She looked up and her jaw dropped.

It was an airship.

She had heard Hailey describe them, but seeing one in person was just incredible. It was about one hundred feet long and sixteen feet wide. It had two masts; one above the hull and one below it. Both had large square sails that were currently being pulled up. There was a large triangular jib forward of the main sails, both top and bottom, and both of those were also being furled. Likewise, the gaff-rigged spanker sails — both top and bottom — were also being rolled. There was another set of sails — top and bottom — at the back too, but they seemed to function more as a sail-based ‘rudder’ than anything else.

The airship was sleek and looked fast too. It drifted over the outpost, eventually letting down an anchor to stop and hover overhead.

As she watched, she saw a familiar face peek over the railing of the airship; a face framed by chocolate brown hair and complimented by pointed ears.

Selene’s jaw dropped.

“Uh, what’s so surprising?” Ethan asked, looking at the expression on Kendra and Rachel’s faces.

“That’s...” Rachel glanced at the dragon huntress. “Is that what I think it is?”

“It is.” Kendra nodded. “She must’ve been storing it here while it cured; but it’s clearly done.”

“What’s the big deal?” Ethan asked. “It’s just an animal skin.”

It was indeed just that. Held to a frame clearly intended for this purpose was an animal skin. It was held in many places why what looked like strong clothespins and stretched out on the frame. Just in front of it on the floor was a large leather bag that was filled with medium grey scales of some kind.

“It’s not just any animal skin; that’s dragon leather.” The dragon huntress said confidently.

He grimaced. “I guess we know what happened to the dragon that was in the other room then.” As he looked at the skin, he realized that she was right and it could hardly be anything else; not with the wings and tail.

“Yeah.” Kendra said absent-mindedly. “I’m going to see if I can find a sack or something to carry it in.”

“Why?” He asked.

“Because this is dragon leather.” She said like he was being stupid.

She did that a lot.

“I think she’s right; we shouldn’t leave this behind.” Rachel said. “Dragon leather is the best leather in existence for enchanting, and it’s worth a fortune too.”

“I’ve got no problem relieving Lady Ekthros of it then.” He grinned. “So, should we take those dragon scales as well?”

“Oh Illuminar, I didn’t see...” Kendra breathed, then she frowned slightly and gave him a strange look.

“What?”

“Finding this can’t be...” She cocked her head to one side. “Rachel said that Lady Ekthros stored things throughout the Ten Kingdoms, but to find this with so little protection? Do you realize how much all this is worth?”

“No idea.” He shrugged.

“Master, this is more wealth than I’ve ever seen in my life, and I grew up in a gold mine.” Taloni was right behind him, leaning against him for either comfort or closeness; he wasn’t sure which.

“Armor.” Rachel suddenly interjected, then looked at him. “Ethan, it looks like this dragon was slightly larger than you are, meaning this is enough dragon leather to make you a full suit of armor.”

“I could certainly use some.” He said, thinking back to the various fights in which he’d been injured, which was nearly all of them. “What would we do with the scales though?”

“Weapons.” Kendra replied without hesitation. “Dragon steel is naturally stronger and harder than regular steel, and a bit lighter too. When properly forged, it can make a very potent blade. And then it can be enchanted...”

“Okay, I’ll carry the scales.” Ethan said. “Who wants to get the hide?”

A minute later, Kendra found a sack, Rachel carefully folded the dragon leather into it, and then the mage slung it over her shoulder. Ethan closed the leather satchel of dragon scales and got a firm grip on it, and they were ready to go.

Unfortunately, he still hadn’t seen the remains of his spear.

He still couldn’t feel it when he tried to call it, so he assumed they must have destroyed it, even despite the self-repairing enchantment that Alana had put on it. He supposed that wasn’t much of a problem for an arch mage though. He did wonder why they hadn’t destroyed his war hammer too, but guessed that maybe it was because he’d used it to channel lightning. If someone wanted to reverse engineer how he did it, it would probably be handy to have around.

Not long after, they found the exit, he activated his disguise gem, and they all walked out onto the streets of Nalatia.

Oddly, their prison hadn’t been tucked away into a remote corner of the city. They were clearly in a busier region and it looked like a middle-class business district made of sophisticated tree houses. He assumed they must’ve knocked out the dragon and carried him in inside a crate of some kind, otherwise someone would’ve seen him.

“Should we alert the guards?” He thought aloud as he considered what was in the building.

“Make sure I’m gone first.” Kendra rolled her eyes. “You want to get caught explaining the dead men and half-transfigured dragons?”

Rachel gave Kendra a look, but spoke to Ethan. “She’s probably right.”

“Okay, then let’s get going.” He nodded.

“Well, it’s been fun.” Kendra said dryly. “See you all later.”

“You’re leaving?” Taloni asked looking heartbroken.

“I came here to apologize, which I did.” She shrugged looking determinedly casual. “I do have my own life to live you know.”

The Fey frowned, then eyed the dragon huntress in a kind and sympathetic but piercing way. “Kendra, is that the real reason, or do you just want to get away from Ethan because you feel guilty that you attacked him so many times?”

That question was followed by an awkward silence.

Very awkward.

“You don’t have to feel guilty.” Taloni continued. “He forgave you, and so he won’t make you feel bad. Right master?” She looked at him.

“I won’t.” He agreed, not really having room to say anything else.

“You don’t have to go, you can stay with us.” The Fey continued hopefully.

Kendra seemed to mull that over for several seconds before shaking her head. “No, not now. I...” She hesitated. “Well, you have your path and I have mine.”

Taloni’s shoulders slumped, but she nodded. “Okay.”

“Hey, I’ll walk with you to your airship.” Kendra said to the Fey.

“Um, the Argo isn’t here at Nalatia anymore.” Ethan said.

“What?” Rachel and Kendra said at the same time.

He explained about Selene, and then gave Rachel an apologetic look. “Sorry, we all talked about it telepathically so the guards wouldn’t hear. Now that your collar is off, you should definitely join the group.”

The redhead gave him a small smile, and something about her seemed to change just slightly. It was like she glowed all of a sudden. There was a level of calm happiness about her that wasn’t a ‘jumping for joy’ kind, but instead was much deeper. It was almost like the ‘newlywed glow’ or a newly pregnant mother. All of a sudden something about her seemed happier; more at peace.

“I’d like that.” She smiled.

She had a great smile.

“Speaking of collars.” Kendra gave him a suspicious look. “How in Saidow’s lair did you get the mana to enchant your claw to be sharp enough to cut that collar off?”

He grinned, slightly relishing the fact that she didn’t know and was annoyed about it.

“Magic.” He winked.

She didn’t look amused. “That shouldn’t be possible, and Lady Ekthros isn’t stupid enough to keep a dragon near any sizeable amount of gold. How’d you do it?”

He looked at for a moment, considering if he really trusted her enough to reveal how. After a moment, he shook his head. “Kendra, you’ve been very helpful since Lord Delmar attacked, but I still would rather not say. To be blunt, I’m not sure I trust you enough. You wouldn’t be willing to reveal your best dragon hunting tips and how to beat them, would you?”

She set her jaw, but nodded. “That’s fair.”

“When is the Argo coming back?” Rachel asked.

“They’re about four days away.” He replied. “They just found Selene, and will probably say hi after Beth makes sure everything is safe by scouting on the Astral Plane.”

He could feel a primal part of him bristling at their distance. He hadn’t felt the dragon this strongly is some time, and it seemed to be very upset that his wives were so far away. He was too, but for different reasons. He could feel some primitive, possessive part of him seething at their distance; his property shouldn’t travel so far from him. He shook his head slightly, not liking the dragon’s thoughts or strong presence coming back. He pushed the dragon away and into the back of his mind.

It did not like that.

“Kendra, would you be willing to fly us to the Argo in your airship?” Taloni asked sweetly.

“You’ve seen my airship, there isn’t a lot of room for four people.” She shook her head. “Besides, I couldn’t sleep wink with a dragon nearby.”

She wasn’t wrong about the size. If Ethan remembered the size of her airship correctly, fitting all four of them on it would be uncomfortably tight. Doable, but tight.

“What’s really wrong Kendra?” Taloni asked.

The dragon huntresses glanced at Ethan momentarily and then hesitated for several seconds before replying. When she did, she didn’t meet anyone’s eye. “It’s not that complicated. I have red in my ledger and I don’t know how to wipe it out.”

Rachel gave her a sympathetic smile. “Speaking as someone who had previously accrued a lot of red in the ‘Ethan column’ of my ledger, you’ll get plenty of chances to clear the red if you hang around him long enough.”

“And I’ll owe you one if you give us a ride.” Ethan added. “I miss my wives and don’t want to wait four whole days to see them again; you giving us a lift will cut that time in half.”

“You wouldn’t owe me anything, I would just owe you one less.” Kendra corrected, then cocked her head to one side and added. “You really want to see them that much?”

“I do.”

She hesitated for several seconds as she considered. “Okay, I’ll give you a ride; but then I’m gone.”

The burst of happiness from Taloni was almost palpable.

Selene had watched the airship hover above the outpost for almost ten minutes before someone started down the rope ladder, which had been hanging down nearly the entire time. It was the chocolate-haired girl in the green dress, followed shortly thereafter by a blonde girl in a royal blue dress. She recognized them both, and simply couldn’t believe her eyes.

How had they found her?

Tellingly, she didn’t see the dragon man — Ethan — around anywhere. For some reason, that struck her as strange. She wasn’t sure she wanted to see him again, given how their last encounter had gone. However, she’d be lying if she said that she hadn’t thought about it once or twice ... and maybe dreamt about it too ... and maybe used it as mental fuel for a few ‘stress relief’ sessions.

The two women climbed all the way down the ladder and then started walking towards her, both looking slightly nervous.

“Hi.” Selene said when they were within earshot.

“Hi again.” The one with the pointed ears replied. What was her name again? Ashley? Anna? Aleah? Something like that.

“What brings you here?” The ex-FBI agent asked.

“You actually.” The blonde replied. “Do you remember us?”

“You’re hard to forget. Is that dragon fellow with you?”

The brunette shook her head. “No, he was ... waylaid. We’re going to meet him next.” An undeniably happy smile crossed her face at that.

“So, you’re here for me then?” She said, casually resting her hand on the leather pouch that contained the Glock 26, just in case. She didn’t think they would hurt her, but better safe than sorry.

The blond nodded. “A little birdie told us you were in trouble and might need some help.”

“That was you?”

“No, it was a friend.” The wood elf replied. “He sent us a letter saying that you might need some help.”

The Brazilian woman tapped her finger on her pouch. “So, do you do this often? Ride to help people you barely know and who have been ... adversarial in the past?”

“Ethan does yeah.” The blonde rolled her eyes. “I love that about him, but I hate when it means we’re apart.”

Selene made a thoughtful sound.

“Are you in any trouble here?” The wood elf asked.

“It depends on what you mean by trouble.” The Brazilian woman replied evenly, not sure how much to give away.

“Does stuck on another world with no way home count?” The wood elf asked with a grin.

“How did you know?”

“Our friend has had someone watching that portal for years; he had some people keep an eye on you using birds.”

“Talking birds?”

The blonde laughed. “No silly, birds can’t talk. But some mages can see through other animal’s eyes.”

“Ah.”

Alana nodded. “Long story short, Ethan wants to know how people from his world are here, and if they’re a threat. He’s a bit worried about what that could mean.”

“He’s not the only one.” She agreed. “The men who sent me here aren’t exactly good people.”

“Let me guess.” The brunette offered, and she shuddered slightly as she spoke. “One of them was thin, wiry, creepy, and had black eyes?”

“You met him?”

“Sort of; he tried to kill my husband.” She said setting her jaw. “He’s a necromancer, and they are bad news.”

“Necromancers are bad news?” Selene frowned. “But didn’t you use some kind of ‘death magic’ to open that portal?”

“We would never!” The blonde said vehemently. Honestly, she looked a little offended at the suggestion.

“Never ever.” The brunette nodded with conviction.

“Then how do portals work?” The ex-FBI agent asked.

Beth and Alana looked at each other for a moment and then the brunette spoke. “Tell you what, we’ll give you the short version of how we came to be on Earth, and then you can give us the short version of how you came to the ten Kingdoms. Deal?”

She nodded. “Deal.”

Kendra found it very interesting walking behind Ethan, Rachel, and Taloni as they headed towards the Nalatia docks. They weren’t being overtly affectionate, but there was something about the way they looked at each other and how they walked closely together that was both endearing and nauseating. Endearing because she wanted that same thing someday; nauseating because she occasionally imagined doing that with him and it made her want to puke.

It took half the walk for her to realize that she was walking behind him. He had voluntarily turned his back to her and didn’t seem concerned at all that she might try something. For some reason, that seemed significant. She wouldn’t try anything of course, but mostly because of how Taloni would feel if something happened to him.

But even as she thought that, she knew it wasn’t just because of Taloni.

Not anymore.

She wouldn’t do anything to Ethan because he was a good dragon. Those two words ‘good dragon’ didn’t seem like they belonged together, but apparently they could. Having confirmed his story with everyone she could think of, it seemed like him telling two of his wives to go help someone — even when he hated being away from them — was very in character for the dragon. She wasn’t sure why, but for some reason she wasn’t surprised at all. It was strange that she wasn’t surprised by a dragon being selfless though.

She wasn’t sure what to make of that.

She was so deep in thought that she nearly walked into them when they stopped.

She looked around and realized that there were a lot more guards around the docks than when she had arrived. When she’d arrived, there were a few scattered throughout just to remind people to behave. Now, that number had at least doubled; possibly tripled. A cluster of three guards had approached their group, barring their way as the men looked back and forth between Taloni and Rachel, as if trying to decide something.

Finally, the lead guard spoke to the redhead, as the Fey was hiding behind her husband slightly. “Hail, dishonored companion of the honored dragon.”

Given the guards’ job, it wasn’t considered improper for them to address a dishonored person. However, proper wood elven etiquette dictated that the guards didn’t confer honor where none was intended, hence him calling Rachel dishonored.

Ethan — whose disguise gem was still active — growled low in his throat at the word ‘dishonored’.

“It’s okay.” Rachel said gently touching his arm.

The lead guard eyed the disguised dragon for a moment, then the way Taloni was clinging to him, then the gentle but affectionate way Rachel touched his arm. The lead guard raised one hand and moved through the air as if feeling for something he couldn’t see.

Moments later, he addressed Ethan with a low bow. “I beg your pardon, but would you be the honored dragon altering his appearance with a disguise gem?”

His disguise gem clicked off and he rose to his full height, towering over the shorter wood elven guards, his sharp teeth were visible and his claws partially slid from their sheaths. “Speak to Rachel that way again and I’ll have your tongue.” He growled.

The guards took an involuntary step back.

Several others came running up.

“Honored dragon.” One of them said. “The King requires your presence. He has instructed us to scour this fair city in search of you.”

Ethan didn’t looked pleased. In fact, there was more dragon about him than Kendra had usually seen outside of battle. “He should’ve instructed you to treat my wives better.” He growled at the newcomers too, then his face twisted into a mask of devious malevolence. “When you dishonor my wives, you dishonor me.”

That had an effect.

As one, the guards eye’s flicked down just slightly, not meeting his. They hadn’t dropped their guard in the slightest, but now they looked at his chest not his eyes.

He had shamed them.

She wasn’t sure if he was being incredibly clever and had good political instincts, or merely got lucky; but that was a masterstroke. Word of this would spread through the guards like wildfire. By the end of the day, not one guard in Nalatia would dare to speak so much as a disparaging comment about his wives. She imagined it would filter up to the nobles shortly thereafter. That was how this honor cultures worked; everything important was said behind the scenes, so everyone knew what was expected in public...

... but he had called them out publicly.

No one did that.

Word of his bold, brazen words would spread, ensuring that no one said anything even remotely disparaging about Ethan’s wives in his presence again for fear of being called out like the guards had been. The nobles still wouldn’t speak to them directly or use their names, but no one would even hint that they were dishonored again. Not in Ethan’s presence anyway. Again, she wasn’t sure if it was good political instincts or simply dumb luck.

“Our most humble apologies honored dragon.” The lead guard said with a deep and remorseful bow. “It will not happen again.”

“I’m not the only one who deserves an apology.” Ethan pressed, his draconic body language making it clear this this was not optional.

The guard gulped, then turned to Rachel. “My deepest apologies, companion of the honored dragon; it shall not happen again.”

The dragon let out another low growl before apparently deeming that acceptable, then he stalked forward.

None impeded his progress.

However, half a dozen of them did fall into step behind him, fanning out in what was undeniably a protective fashion around the group, including herself. After several steps, he glanced behind him, apparently noticing this.

“What are you doing?” He growled.

“Apologies honored dragon.” The lead guard said with a bow. “The King has instructed us to provide you with a personal guard to protect you once you were found. Where you go, we go. Where you stay, we will stay. Your enemies shall be our enemies, and it would be our honor to lay down our lives for the revered prophet of Illuminar — blessed be He.”

“I’m not...” Ethan sighed, then stopped.

Kendra could tell that Ethan was back. All hint of draconic mannerisms were gone, leaving the man clad in a dragon’s body behind. It was strange to see how he could go from one to the other so quickly. She got the distinct impression that his dragon side being so prominent was new. He hadn’t seemed to let out his dragon side as much before.

“Thank you.” He finally said in response. “I appreciate it.”

Kendra noticed Rachel give him a little nudge and then whispered something in his ear; apparently she hadn’t linked up to him telepathically yet.

Ethan nodded then turned to the guards. “I’m honored to have your protection.” He said with a respectful bow of his head.

She could almost see the guards’ hearts swell as they stood almost imperceptibly straighter. “Should we take you to the King?”

“No.” He replied. “I have a pressing engagement elsewhere.”

The dragon huntress resisted the urge to chuckle. The guards didn’t seem to know what to do with that statement.

“Honored dragon--” The lead guard said, but didn’t seem to know how to finish the sentence. “The King was most distraught by your disappearance and he urgently requires your presence.”

“I will be leaving Nalatia, but I can return in less than a week.” He replied. Taloni gave him a look that Kendra recognized as more telepathic talking, and then he added. “But I would be honored if you would escort me to the airship.”

The guards looked back and forth at each other for several seconds, clearly unsure what to do. Finally the lead guard nodded. “We shall inform the King of your departure and guard you until you depart.”