Chapter 3: What you don’t know can hurt you

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

Rachel Delmar was in a truly foul mood. She was pacing back and forth near the bonfire in the center of the camp and throwing murderous glares at anyone who got too close. Not that many did though because it was the middle of the night and they were all on lookout duty.

Her plan wasn’t working. Why wasn’t it working?

She was even more disturbed that she’d enacted the plan in the first place. Kidnapping wasn’t exactly her life’s ambition and she found the idea abhorrent. Yet here she was masterminding a kidnapping. Although, given who her father was, she wasn’t really too surprised at the plan she’d come up with. You learned a few things being the daughter of a brilliant but malevolent asshole.

But why had she acted on the idea?

Rachel absentmindedly played with her ring. Why was she being such a horrible person?

“My lady.” One of the lookouts interrupted her thoughts.

“What!” Rachel whipped around to stare at him. Behind her, the fire flicked ominously.

The lookout took a step backwards. “I’m sorry my lady, but Wurven is growing impatient. He said the mercenaries are...” the lookout trailed off at her glare.

“Wurven can go fuck himself.” Rachel retorted. In the back of her mind, she wondered when she had become so mean. She had never been like this before.

“That sad little man isn’t in charge here, I am!” Rachel snapped. “Did he arrange for the children to be kidnapped? Did he smuggle them out of town? Does he even have the brainpower to come up with a plan like this?”

“He’s ... He’s our leader and ... and...” The lookout stammered trying to respond but Rachel cut him off.

“I don’t give a flying fuck what Wurven wants.” Rachel said. “All he needs to do is stay out of the way until the dragon and the elf show up, then do some killing. Now get back to your post before I decide I need to practice fighting them now.”

Rachel pulled some heat from the fire and formed a small fireball in her hand. The lookout ran away as fast as he could while trying to pretend he wasn’t actually on the verge of soiling his breeches. Rachel let the fireball dissipate and resumed her pacing. She really hated that dragon and elf...

She stopped.

Something was definitely wrong. She had never hated anyone without meeting them before. She didn’t even know what they had done to deserve her father’s ire. She shook her head. This wasn’t right. There was something that wasn’t right. She shook her head trying to clear it.

The skin under her ring was itching again.

She had just decided to give up the whole hunt, when she reconsidered. It was almost like another person was in her head telling her how great it would be if her father was pleased with her. It spoke of a warm welcome and him calling her his little girl again.

Rachel kept up this mental battle with herself for almost an hour. On the one hand she wanted to leave and scrap the whole plan. On the other, she felt like she had to finish it.

“Please could I have some water?” A female voice called out from the captive’s tent. Rachel looked around; she was alone. Everyone else was either sleeping or on lookout duty. She huffed, grabbed a skin of water and walked into the tent.

The captives were still tied to the center pole with their hands behind their backs. The boy was asleep, but the girl was awake and alert. She couldn’t be much older than eighteen and had long, golden-blonde hair that reached almost to her waist. Her face was small and round with a touch of natural red in her cheeks. Her blue eyes were alert and attentive, but young and full of questions with no trace of fear.

“Thank you.” The girl said as Rachel tipped the skin up to her mouth.

As Rachel looked at them, she wanted to release them right now. She should release them. What had they done to deserve this? Rachel had half decided to untie them when the other voice almost commanded her to leave them alone. They were part of the plan, and she couldn’t hurt the plan because Lord Delmar wouldn’t like it.

Rachel hovered with indecision for a few moments. The skin under her ring itched again and she twisted it on her finger.

“That’s a beautiful ring.” The captive girl said. “Where’d you get it?”

“What’s it to you?” Rachel snapped back.

“I’m just making conversation. I heard you threaten the bandits not to ... um... ‘have their way with me’ earlier and I wanted to say thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Rachel said, and again she wondered why in the world she was holding this girl captive. She had just decided to release her when the other voice made a powerful argument to keep her here. Rachel was hovering on indecision when the blonde girl interrupted her thoughts.

“Your ring just glowed a little.” The girl said. “Is it enchanted? It looks enchanted.”

“Of course not.” Rachel said. “My father said it wasn’t enchanted so it’s not.”

In the back of her mind, Rachel heard her own words and knew they sounded false, even forced. She wondered where this absolute conviction in her father’s word came from. She had seen him lie often enough to know he was a master at it.

“Who’s your father?”

“Lord Delmar, and you ask a lot of questions.”

The blonde girl smiled. “I always have. My father eventually taught me to read so I could find the answers for myself instead of always asking him.”

“He sounds nice.” Rachel’s mind went back to the fight with her own father in the great hall. Without another word, Rachel left the tent. One of the lookouts was standing nearby, trying not to look as if he was eavesdropping. A glare from Rachel sent him scurrying away.

It didn’t make her feel better.

Ethan woke up to a warm weight half-draped across his chest. His dragon eyes could see just well enough to know it was Alana. It was strange, he hadn’t known her for very long but for some reason her snuggling up to him like this felt perfectly natural. Through their bond, he could sense that she was feeling happy and content.

He wasn’t sure how he felt.

Alana had saved his life, plus she was kind, sweet and beautiful. Everything in him wanted to nurture and pursue his budding attraction to her. However, every time he thought about taking things in that direction, his mind drifted back to his ex.

He didn’t want to go through that again.

Lying there with her there made him reconsider, but he just couldn’t do anything about it. The wounds were still too fresh. Eventually he decided it would be best to gently roll her off of him before waking her so she wouldn’t know she’d been snuggling with him.

It was a great idea in theory, but in practice he was having a little trouble with it, simply because he liked having her there so much. He lay there with Alana sleeping pressed against him for another ten minutes before he worked up the willpower to wake her.

“What?” Alana said sleepily after Ethan gave her a gentle shake.

“It’s time to wake up I think.” He said, pushing the trapdoor open and sitting up. The full moon was past halfway through the sky. He guessed it was about four in the morning.

She stretched and let out a loud yawn. In the moonlight, with her hair a complete mess and she was absolutely gorgeous. Ethan caught himself staring and quickly looked away.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

He looked back at her. “No, why?”

“Oh, I just felt ... Through our bond I mean, I thought you were ... Never mind.”

Ethan grabbed the spear and stood up. “Shall we.”

“If we must.” Alana said through another yawn. “How’s your mana?”

“It’s ... Wow, it’s partially refilled since yesterday.” Before they had left the inn, he had checked and his mana was almost empty. However, there was definitely more now than before.

“Hmm. We haven’t been near any gold.” She noted.

“I know, and there isn’t any gold nearby.” He replied, using his dragon sense to scan for any in the vicinity.

“Well that’s odd.” She said, and then glanced up at the moon. “I’d love to talk more about it, but we should get going. We want to be there before the sun starts coming up.”

“Lead on.”

He fell into step behind her. From there, he couldn’t help but admire her hair. It was still untidy from the wind during their flight, but they way it cascaded down her shoulders was just so attractive...

He started on all fours, but his head was at about the level of her butt, and he found himself staring at it a little too often — although in his defense she did have a perfect bubble butt. Thereafter, he reverted to walking on two legs.

Alana set a fast pace, but he was able to keep up with her without difficulty. After an hour, she slowed. Through the trees just ahead, he could see a bonfire burning. It looked like it was set on the peak of a small rise in the ground. The area around it had been cleared of trees and several tents had been set up.

Ethan and Alana crept closer.

There was a woman pacing beside the fire, wearing a long cloak and what looked like black pants. Her hair was dark red at the top, but slowly fading down to almost blond at the tips. The overall effect made her hair resemble fire and was quite striking; even beautiful.

He couldn’t see her face, but could see a ring on her finger with a large gemstone. Either the ring was occasionally glowing or it kept catching the firelight at very odd angles.

Someone exited one of the tents and walked over to her. Ethan didn’t catch his question, but the volume of her response made it hard to miss, especially to his dragon ears.

“If any of you even think of touching that woman I’ll burn your balls off. Slowly.” The flame-haired woman pulled some flames from the bonfire, wrapped them around her fist into a fireball, and then pointed at the man’s groin to emphasize the point.

“Now get back to your watch.” She spat. The man scampered away.

“I guess we know who’s in charge.” Ethan whispered.

Alana nodded. “The trouble is, how do we get past her?”

“Could we sneak them out? I’ll bet they’re being held in one of the tents.”

“We could try.” She whispered. “There will be lookouts in the forest though.”

“It’s better than trying to fight a woman who can control fire.”

“True.”

They both crept forward as quietly as they could. They were about fifty yards away from the clearing when Alana touched Ethan. She pointed up into a tree where a man was perched in the fork of a branch, clearly supposed to be on watch. He was also clearly asleep.

Ethan glanced at the sky. It was definitely growing lighter.

They crept closer, careful to make as little noise as possible. She nocked an arrow to her bowstring, but didn’t raise it. Ethan held his spear a little tighter. Several tense minutes later, they were within thirty feet of the clearing.

He motioned to Alana to stay where she was and then crept forward to the nearest tent. It looked medieval, which meant that there would in all likelihood be no floor to the tent, which was simply tacked to the ground at regular intervals. Using the tent for cover and walking on three legs while using the fourth to hold the spear, he made it to the tent.

Using one claw, Ethan quietly lifted the edge to see inside. It looked like a storage tent. There were food supplies stacked up in several places along with blankets and a few barrels.

He crept back.

Alana lifted her palms in question.

He shook his head, and then pointed to the next tent. They made their way through the trees until they were masked by the second tent, and he advanced again. As before, he was able to creep up to the tent without anyone noticing.

The sky was definitely getting brighter.

When he lifted the tent, he was delighted to see two people tied to a stake driven into the earth. The sandy-haired boy looked to be on the verge of puberty, while the girl looked to be in her late teens.

Both of them were sleeping.

Ethan crept under the tent, crouching low. Through the open tent flap, he could see the bonfire and the flame-haired woman crossing back and forth. He moved closer and used the tip of his spear to cut the ropes binding their hands.

Outside, the sky was growing ever brighter.

He could feel Alana’s growing nervousness through their bond. He was nervous too, but at least he had found what they had been looking for. Still staying low, he gently shook the woman. She rolled over, saw him and her eyes went wide.

That’s when Ethan remembered he was a dragon, and therefore looked like a dragon. He put his finger to his lips, and the woman strangled a cry in her throat.

‘I’m here to rescue you.” He whispered as quietly as he could.

The blond woman nodded, and then looked to the boy.

“Can you wake him up?” Ethan again whispered as quietly as he could.

The blond woman understood his meaning and nodded again. She reached over and gently shook the boy. He awoke and the woman started to tug him toward the back of the tent. Ethan was just about to cut the ropes binding their feet when the boy turned and saw Ethan.

“Aaah!” The boy screamed the moment he saw Ethan’s draconic form.

Throwing caution to the wind, Ethan stood up and readied his spear. The flame-haired witch appeared at the tent’s entrance a moment later. For a moment she looked happy, her expression blissful, then her ring glowed and her face twisted into a mask of rage. The bonfire behind her dimmed slightly, and a fireball appeared in each of her hands.

Ethan did the only thing he could think of. He jumped straight at her and lunged with his spear. She leapt out of the way. Ethan’s jump carried him much further than he thought it would. He landed outside the tent and rolled into a crouch.

He had just enough time to get his bearings before he had to jump again to dodge a fireball from the mage. He dodged the first one, but evidently she’d been waiting for that. The moment he jumped, she launched a second fireball and Ethan frantically twisted in mid-air, only just avoiding it, the heat of it sweeping over him.

Ethan landed and took cover behind a tent

A cloth tent.

He realized his mistake a moment later when the whole thing went up in flames. He leapt away from it just in time to see the flame-haired woman lurch forward.

She whipped around, turning her back to him and Ethan saw one of Alana’s arrows dangling from her cloak, demonstrating that she must be wearing armor. Rachel launched a fireball at Alana and the wood elf jumped to avoid it. Some of the brush around her caught fire and she found herself having to run hard to avoid the flames, a drifting ember landing on her arm.

She cried out in pain.

A rage welled up inside Ethan — a deep, primal rage surging through his bones. Ethan opened his mouth and roared, the terrifying sound filling the whole clearing. Even the witch seemed to cower at its intensity.

Ethan charged straight at the flame-haired woman. His claws were out, his teeth were bared, and his spear aimed true as ran forward and leapt at her.

Rachel made a sweeping gesture with her arms and dove backwards. A thin layer of ice formed above her and Ethan’s claws dug into it, while the spear skittered off. The ice wasn’t very thick, so his claws ripped through it, but it prevented him from getting to the woman for a split second. He sailed right over her prone body and landed several yards beyond her.

Alana ran up behind Ethan as the witch stood up.

Half a dozen men ran out from the forest and formed a semi-circle behind her. Oddly, they all carried full buckets of water. The captives were off to the side and their feet were still bound despite the blond woman’s attempts to untie their bonds. They were trapped between the newcomers and their captor.

Alana and Ethan squared off against their foes — two against seven.

“Surrender, and I’ll make your deaths quick.” The witch said.

Ethan considered. Surrendering wasn’t going to happen, and with the sun just about up, escaping into the forest wasn’t really viable. A quick glance at the captives made that option obsolete anyway.

The largest and most heavily-armored of the newcomers stepped forward. He was clad in chainmail from head to foot and wore a steel helmet with the visor open.

“Douse it boys.” He commanded. A second later, the men dumped their buckets on the large bonfire. The fire died instantly and the men then kicked the larger logs out of the fire pit.

The flame-haired girl whipped around to face the armored man. “What in Illuminar’s name are you doing, Wurven?”

“The Lady Rachel Delmar.” The big man — Wulven — sneered. “Think you’re so smart, don’t you? Well you shouldn’t have let it slip that Lord Delmar is your father. I imagine he’d pay a pretty penny to get his daughter and only heir back.”

“How dare you speak to me like that.” She said, though it would’ve sounded a lot more impressive if her voice hadn’t wavered as she took a step back from him.

He laughed. “Without that fire you’re just a piddling lightweight. I just have to skin me a dragon and take care of that juicy little wood elf and collect the bounty on them too. It’ll be a good day for us — not so much for you. What do you say?”

He took a single step toward Rachel.

She took several steps backwards. She was now within a few feet of Alana and Ethan.

Ethan glanced at Alana.

Through their bond, Ethan could feel her concern and he didn’t think it was just for them and the captives. An unspoken conversation passed between them. Ethan wasn’t sure if it was their bond or perhaps they just read each other’s body language well. But in an instant, they agreed on the best course of action.

Ethan took a few steps forward until he was standing beside Rachel before speaking. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

Rachel jumped, looked his way, and then nodded. Alana stepped up on Rachel’s other side and nocked an arrow on her bow.

Wurven laughed. “You think the three of you can beat us? Odds are two to one. And if you go down, then your father will just have to be disappointed and we’ll make do with handing in the brats. He’s a banker and--”

Alana moved so fast, Ethan almost didn’t see her start. She had the polished look of someone who had done this a thousand times. She raised her bow and loosed an arrow at Wurven’s face. He turned his head just in time and the arrow skittered off the armor.

“Kill them!” He shouted as he dropped his visor. His men charged, swords raised.

Chaos ensued.

Alana backpedaled and managed to fire an arrow into the chest of one of the oncoming men before jumping backwards to avoid his sword.

Ethan leapt forward to meet their charge and buried his spear into the chest of an unfortunate man who wasn’t quick enough to dodge or parry the thrust. However, that left Ethan defenseless as his spear lodged between the man’s ribs. Two of the bandits raised their swords to attack and Ethan knew he wasn’t fast enough to dodge.

From his right, twin fireballs blasted both of the attacking men. They staggered back — burned but still very much alive and kicking. Ethan gave an almighty pull and the spear came out of the man’s chest with a nasty sucking noise. The dragon raised it to defend himself and kept jabbing it at the men to keep them at arm’s length.

Whenever one of them got past his spear point, Rachel would launch a fireball. There was a tense standoff and Ethan chanced a glance backwards. Alana had apparently jumped backwards, tripped, and landed on her back because all the arrows in her quiver were broken or bent at odd angles. She had one good arrow left and held it nocked into the bow, but not drawn.

Wurven’s remaining men were cautiously testing Ethan’s defenses while their leader stood back and watched. He had drawn his longsword and was holding a wooden shield on his other arm. He had a war hammer hanging at his side via a leather strap; it looked like a two-foot long framing hammer with a slightly larger head.

“I’ve got an idea, but it’ll take time and completely drain me.” Rachel said softly to Ethan.

“Do it.” Ethan said jabbing forward with his spear again.

Over the next ten seconds, Ethan noticed a slight change in the atmosphere that reminded him of how it had felt when Drousin had magically unshackled Alana. It made him shiver and his scales stand on end.

Then Ethan felt the air change.

Something went past him in the direction of the four leading bandits. In moments, frost appeared on their clothes and weapons. As one, they turned to run, but they weren’t anywhere near fast enough. Ice covered their entire bodies and they fell.

Ethan looked behind him to see the massive amount of heat Rachel had pulled from their bodies concentrated into a single large fireball. Rachel launched this directly at Wurven, who raised his shield to try and block it. The shield burst into flames and moments later he cast it aside, flames still flickering from it as it burned. The moment the shield dropped, Alana sent her last arrow flying. It hit the chainmail squarely...

... But the broad, hunting arrowhead didn’t penetrate the steel rings.

Ethan didn’t think they could count on any more spells for a while as Rachel slumped to the ground behind him, panting for breath.

Wurven knocked the dangling arrow from his chest.

“You’ve spent all your efforts and none of you can get through my armor. Surrender now and I’ll give you a quick death.” He pointed at Ethan. “The other two we’ll take more time over.”

None of them moved, and the armored man charged forward. For a person wearing so much chainmail, he moved very quickly. Ethan, Alana and Rachel scattered. Ethan managed to land a thrust with his spear as he jumped aside. The spear point stuck into the chainmail, but the wide tip didn’t force the riveted steel rings apart. The dragon landed and immediately leapt forward again, throwing all of his might behind a single thrust.

It wasn’t enough.

Again his broad spear tip caught — but didn’t break — the riveted steel rings of Wurven’s chainmail.

“Stupid beast.” He said. “What kind of idiot would attack chainmail with a short spear?”

Ethan surveyed the situation. Wurven was right. There was no way his spear was going to pierce that armor. Alana was out of arrows, although she was looking for more. Rachel, winded from her efforts, was panting for breath. Fortunately, the bandit was ignoring them and focusing on him.

The armored man attacked again with his longsword, handling the blade with practiced ease. Ethan jumped backwards and thrust out with his spear. Wurven parried the attack easily and then counter-attacked. Ethan tried dodging again, but wasn’t fast enough and the sword opened a long, shallow cut on the dragon’s arm.

“I might have me some dragon for dinner.” Wurven taunted.

Behind him, Ethan could see the captive blond woman trying to get Alana’s attention. She mouthed something that Ethan didn’t catch and pointed to Wurven’s side. Ethan followed her finger and saw it — the warhammer. They were designed to fight men in armor, doing damage by crushing not cutting. Chainmail especially offered no defense against it.

It could do the trick if only he could get to it.

Wurven and Ethan sparred for a few minutes and it quickly became clear that the man was toying with him. He had several chances to kill Ethan, but was enjoying the sport of the kill. The dragon attacked time after time, but his spear just couldn’t get through the chainmail to reach flesh. Ethan briefly considered running, but he couldn’t leave the others behind, especially Alana.

After a few minutes, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Alana had pulled the arrow from the body of the first man she had shot.

“Hey shit-for-brains.” Ethan said to Wurven. “You know what they say about men with big swords?”

He held his hand up and flexed his smallest finger.

Wurven stopped moving and flourished the sword in his hand. Ethan could see that the man had decided to finish toying with him. That was all the opening Alana needed. She drew her bow back, took careful aim and loosed the arrow. It struck true and sliced right through the leather strap holding the warhammer. Fortunately, he didn’t notice the weapon fall to the ground.

Wurven did feel the arrow hit his side, however and laughed scornfully. “Stupid fucking elves. You’ve already tried that — for the last time.”

He charged at Alana. Ethan dropped his spear and darted forward on all fours. As he ran, he picked up the fallen warhammer and leapt forward.

He reached Wurven just as the man reached Alana, winding up a horizontal slice that Alana would have no chance to dodge. Ethan raised the hammer and brought it down with all his might on the armored helmet. The helmet was strong, but woefully inadequate to stop a direct hit from a warhammer swung by a very angry dragon.

The helmet — and the skull underneath it — caved in. The bandit fell forward and Alana barely avoided being pinned under him.

Ethan stood up, panting. “We ... we did it.”

Alana ran forward and wrapped Ethan in a hug.

“An elven bitch in heat; disgusting.” Rachel muttered, clearly still out of breath. Alana jumped away from Ethan as if he had given her an electric shock.

“Thank you.” Ethan said to Rachel, despite her comment. He knew she had really made the victory possible.

“You’re welco--” Rachel started to say with a smile, then her ring glowed and she stopped mid-sentence. She seemed to struggle with herself for several seconds before standing up. Something was different about her expression — an odd combination of vacant and determined.

“I’m exhausted, so I’ll let you go this time.” She said to Ethan. “The next time we meet, your hide is mine.” Without another word, she turned and left the clearing.

“And the award for most delightful person of the year goes to...” Ethan said.

Alana laughed, and sheer relief made Ethan and the blond woman join in. He took a sword from the ground and walked over to cut the ropes still hobbling the captives’ feet.

“What’s your name?” He asked the blond woman as he carefully sliced through the ropes.

“Elizabeth, but everyone calls me Beth.” She replied, rubbing her ankles. There was rope burn on her wrists and hands, but otherwise she seemed unharmed. “Thank you for rescuing us.”

“No problem. Thanks for pointing out the warhammer. You probably saved our skins.”

She smiled. “Well, then that makes us almost even.”

Ethan moved to cut the ropes on the boy’s feet, but the boy shrank away. The dragon crouched down to his level and looked him in the eye. “If I was going to hurt you, I wouldn’t have fought those men.”

The boy hesitated for a moment, then look at his sister.

“He’s a friend Charles, we can trust him.” Beth said. The boy still seemed scared, but let Ethan cut his bonds.

“Are your horses nearby?” The blonde asked.

“Um, not really.” Ethan said.

“Hidden deep in the forest then?”

“We flew.” Alana cut in as she joined them. “Or rather he flew. I rode.”

Beth’s jaw dropped. “You rode a dragon!”

“We didn’t really think about getting back.” Ethan said. “And before you get any bright ideas, there’s no way I can carry more than one person.”

“Multiple trips it is then.” Alana sighed, a twinkle in her eye.

“Now wait just a minute.” Ethan Said. “I assume these men had horses we could take.”

“Not anymore.” Alana pointed out. Rachel had taken off riding one horse and she was holding the reins of a half dozen others.

“So, I guess we’re all flying back then.” Alana said, trying to stifle a smile.

“You mean I get to ride a dragon?” The boy said, going from nervous fear to joyful wonder in an instant.

“How could you disappoint that face?” Alana asked.

“He’s stubborn too.” Beth added. “Won’t take no for an answer.”

“Yes but--” Ethan started.

“We do need to get back, and that’s the fastest way.” The wood elf pointed out.

“I’ve read that dragons can fly as far in an hour as a man can ride in a day.” Beth exclaimed. “Is it true?”

Alana nodded. “It makes a mess of your hair though.”

“You’re forgetting the one with the wings needs to agree to this.” Ethan said with a frown.

“Details.” Alana said with a dismissive wave of her hand. Through their bond, he could tell she was really enjoying teasing him.

Well two could play at that game.

“Of course, we can’t leave the boy alone.” Ethan said. “I’d have to take Beth first, and then she can wait while I drop off Charles. Then we can head for the bank.”

“Aren’t you forgetting one important detail?” Alana asked.

Ethan pursed his lips for a few moments in a mock-thoughtful expression and then shook his head. “Not that I can think of.”

He turned to Beth. “Can you think of any part I’m missing?”

“Maybe.” She said with a smile. “I’ve heard there are elves in these woods.”