Chapter 40: Ruth

I now have an editor, so you all shouldn’t need to put up with my typos and poor/dyslexic editing skills anymore. :)

“Is that all of it?” Ethan asked as he held Kendra’s hair so it didn’t fall into the puddle of vomit that had resided in her stomach up until a minute ago. Ordinarily, he might’ve been rather insulted that a woman literally threw up after having sex with him. However, he understood that Kendra had some struggles that other women didn’t. Besides, she’d seemed to enjoy it until he had released the compulsion that had been keeping her stomach calm.

She nodded and then shuddered as she spat out what he assumed were the last vestiges.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered.

“For...?”

She sat up, moving away from the puddle of sick and gesturing to it. “That.”

“Well, I might’ve taken it as a reflection of my performance if you weren’t so insistent that you enjoyed it.” He winked.

She blushed scarlet, then cocked her head to one side and looked at him with confusion in her eyes. “You held my hair.”

“Well yeah; I assumed you wouldn’t want to get vomit in it.”

She teared up slightly, and then tried to surreptitiously wipe those tears away. “I’m not supposed to get choked up because someone held my hair while I threw up.”

“I know how hard this has been for you.” He shrugged. “Plus, I’m not dumb enough to get mad at you for not liking my dragon side. I don’t even like the asshole most of the time.”

She gave him a half smile, then averted her eyes. “Can I say something that’s stupid?”

“Of course; I do all the time.”

She glanced at him and half-smiled for a moment before her face became more serious and sincere. “I think that a husband holding his wife’s hair while she vomits because she just had sex with him is one of the most pure expressions of love I’ve ever heard of.”

She was being honest; absolutely genuine.

She radiated sincerity.

“It’s been like that our whole relationship.” She continued quietly, not meeting his eyes. “You’ve been nothing but wonderful to me and I’ve been...” She took a deep breath and sniffled slightly. “I’ve been a horrible, standoffish, and occasionally murderous bitch to you and--”

“Stop.” He held up his hand. “You don’t need to apologize again.”

“But may I please finish Drago?”

He almost commented on her new nickname for him, but figured this wasn’t the time and so nodded.

“You just gave me one of the-- no, the best experience of my entire life. The only other one that comes close is the night you said that I could make the Argo my home. You’ve done so much for me and I’m so far in your debt that I’ll never be able to--”

“Stop.” He held up his hand again and shook his head. “You need to stop thinking that way, and I mean right now.”

“What way?”

He smiled kindly at her. “We got married today, and thus all of that ‘I-owe-you-and-you-owe-me’ stuff went right out the window when we did. That’s not how a good marriage works. In a good marriage, I do what’s best for you and you do what’s best for me; always. We don’t keep score. All debts and ‘I-owe-you’s were wiped out the moment we said ‘I do’, so consider us even; now and forevermore.”

“Really?” Her voice cracked slightly as she spoke.

“Yes.” He replied firmly. “If we want to have a good marriage, it would probably help if we didn’t start by keeping score.”

She nodded, still wiping the tears that were leaking from her eyes, though she was smiling too. “Thank you, that ... that sounds wonderful.”

“Speaking from experience, it is.” He nodded. “So please, let’s have no more of this ‘I owe you’ stuff.”

Kendra’s eyes suddenly became even more watery as her smile grew wider. She blinked several times trying to clear them. After several seconds she started wiping her eyes with her hands, trying to wipe the tears away.

It wasn’t working.

They kept coming.

“Come here.” He opened his arms.

She started to move his way, but then grabbed her stomach. “Maybe I better not.” She grimaced apologetically. “Sorry.”

“I hope you get over that, but I understand.”

She nodded, then grimaced slightly again. “I don’t know anything about being a wife.” She averted her eyes again. “I’d like to be a good wife, but I don’t know how. I was never trained for it and I don’t ... I don’t know how.”

He smiled at her. “You’ve already nailed step number one to being a good wife.”

“I have?”

“Want to be one, and try to be one.”

She sighed in relief, then grinned slightly at him. “That’s two steps.”

“Even better.” He grinned back.

She closed her eyes, got a contented smile on her face, took a deep breath, and then moved in his direction slightly. However, she started to go green almost instantly and put a hand on her stomach.

“I could probably deal with your nausea permanently via compulsion.” He suggested.

She bit her lip and averted her eyes.

“You don’t want me to?”

She hesitated a moment, then shook her head slightly. “I um, I didn’t mind the temporary compulsion just now, but permanent...” She frowned, though still didn’t meet his eye. “I would like to see if I can get over it by myself first. Is that okay?”

He nodded. “Just aim away if your stomach wins.”

She chuckled, then glanced at the gross puddle. “That’s going to stink pretty soon. Stink worse I mean.”

He nodded. “Yeah, we should get that cleaned up as soon as possible. I know the sheets are self-cleaning, but I highly doubt they’ll vaporize the solid bits.”

“Ethan.” She looked at him, her eyes shining as she wiped the tears from her smiling cheeks. She sniffled slightly too, and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “Oh, I must look like a mess.”

“Yeah.” He nodded, but added with a smile. “A beautiful mess.”

“You can’t mean that.”

“I do.” He replied, thinking that she was beautiful; sick, snot, and tears notwithstanding. She either ignored his response, or more likely didn’t know what to do with it.

“Were you really serious about not owing each other anything?” She swallowed hard. “I mean, that we don’t need to keep track of ‘I-owe-you’s and such.”

“I was, and I am.”

She smiled at him, and it was a smile that reached deep into her eyes. “I’m glad that...” She glanced at the captain’s cabin door, beyond which they’d gotten married not long before. “ ... that we...”

She bit her lip.

He smiled. “Me too.”

He noticed that she wasn’t covering herself anymore; not her breasts, nor her slit, nor her scars. She seemed relaxed, or at least not hiding herself from him.

It was good to see.

Moments later, they both wrinkled their noses at the smell.

He made a face. “Yeah, help me get this sheet off the bed and I’ll find a nearby stream or something to rinse it in.”

Sarah swallowed hard as the old woman got right up in her face. It was even more unnerving because the innkeeper’s daughter was again strapped to the horizontal bed-like wooden boards in the old woman’s laboratory.

“Come on dear, tell me what really happened.” Her tone was polite, but somehow that made it more menacing.

“I already told you; it’s a demon.” Sarah pleaded. “That’s all it is; I swear.”

The old woman scowled. “Don’t be silly girl; demons don’t exist, so there must be another explanation.”

Sarah blinked and her mouth fell open. “You don’t believe in demons? But then, who are Saidow’s minions that the Book of Light talks about?”

“This world is so backwater.” The old woman shook her head. She made a thoughtful sound, tapped her foot, and then looked at the innkeeper’s daughter with an evil grin. “Tell me, or I’ll let the guards have some ‘fun’ with you and the bitch you’re sharing a cell with.”

Sarah blanched. “You ... you can’t. I’m betrothed and--”

“Does it look like I give a shit?” The woman interrupted in a quiet-but-deadly tone.

“But ... b-but I already told you.”

The other woman shrugged. “Suit yourself. I’ll go find some guards who are looking for a good time.”

“Wait!” Sarah called after her as she left the room.

The old woman didn’t even look back.

Ethan tucked his wings slightly to make it safely through the tree canopy and dropped the last few feet to the ground beside a large stream. The mid-afternoon sun was shining through the leaves onto the stream he’d landed next to, soiled sheets in hand. Thanks to the fact that they were self-cleaning, he just needed to give them a good rinse to get the solid bits out and the enchantment should do the rest.

Magic is wonderful.

Still, it was gross.

A few minutes later, he was holding two sopping wet but much cleaner sheets. He wrung them out to eliminate the excess water, then turned to fly back to the Argo.

That’s when he saw them.

There were two kids standing there watching him, seemingly rooted to the spot. He hadn’t noticed them when he came in to land because of the tree canopy, and they both had open mouths and wide eyes. At their feet was what looked like some kind of castle made from river mud, so they’d probably been playing by the stream. The older one was a boy of about ten, and next to him was a girl of maybe six or eight. He assumed they were siblings since they closely resembled one another.

“Hi.” He said as he waved, grinning instead of smiling to avoid scaring them with his dragon teeth.

The girl shrieked and started running, but the boy didn’t move. He looked at the sheets in Ethan’s hands, then up through the canopy at the Argo, which was slowly getting closer.

“Are you...” The boy looked at the sheets again. “Are you the dragon?”

“Well, I’m a dragon, but who do you mean by the dragon?”

“The prophet of Illuminar.” The boy said with hushed awe. He was still standing there with his legs shaking slightly, though his face was resolute. “Are you him?”

Ethan hesitated.

He’d talked to an angel, had a conversation with God himself, and had gotten predictions about the future. Illuminar had even told him that he’d been pulled into the Ten Kingdoms to correct a situation that had gone on quite long enough. He supposed by all objective standards, it wouldn’t be wrong to call him a prophet. He still wasn’t comfortable with it though.

Eventually, he evaded answering the question directly. “I’ve certainly been called that by a lot of people, why?”

The boy’s legs stopped knocking and he got a wary smile. “Then could you please come help Ma’ma and Pa’pa? They really need your help.”

Ethan stared.

“That’s what Illuminar’s prophets do right?” The boy asked hopefully. “They help people because that’s what Illuminar -- blessed be He -- wants?”

“Uh...” He hesitated. “What do your folks need help with?”

“They might not want me to tell you, but they might tell you. Please mister prophet sir, could you please help us?”

Ethan nodded.

He just didn’t have the heart to say no to a ten year-old kid that was pleading for help on behalf of his parents. He looked at the wet sheets in his hand. “Let me fly these back to my airship, and then I’ll come right back and you can take me to your parents.

The boy looked like Christmas had come early.

Kendra touched the soft fabric of her new dress and could feel tears coming to her eyes ... again.

Why did her eyes feel like a leaky bucket lately?

She held up one of Beth’s mirrors and looked at her reflection, scarcely able to believe that she was looking at her own reflection. All of Ethan’s wives plus Selene had gathered in the captain’s cabin after she’d changed into the new dress that Alana had offered her the moment she’d exited the captain’s cabin. Kendra had changed into it and they’d all come back in to see. They were all looking excited for her.

“When did you finish it?” The dragon huntress asked.

“Yesterday. I needed a distraction from...” The wood elf trailed off. “Um, I started working on it much harder once we returned to the Argo. Rachel and I designed it, do you like it?”

“I love it.” She said, wiping the corners of her eyes. “I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to fight in it, but I love it.”

“That’s the best part, and I’m particularly proud of this idea.” Rachel grinned. “Push a tiny bit of mana into it to activate it.”

The raven haired woman took another look at the dress as she did so. It was the prettiest color of purple, the exact shade of a darker amethyst. The dress was ankle length with a large number of pleats in both the ‘skirt’ portion and long sleeves. It was very sleek and quite elegant, and she just loved how it looked on her. The only odd thing was that Alana had insisted that she step into it, instead of pulling it over her head.

The moment she’d activated the dress, the pleats on the legs and arms folded of their own accord, and she realized why Alana had wanted her to put it on feet first. The lower half was actually two pieces that looked like a regular dress before activation. But after activation it became two halves that looked more like a pair of slightly loose pants than anything else. Likewise, the sleeves -- which were loose and slightly billowy before activation -- tightened up enough to stay out of the way, but loose enough to not interfere with movement.

She could go from dancing at a ball to fighting in a heartbeat.

It was perfect.

“Oh not again.” She said as she started tearing up again.

“I’m glad you like it Kendra.” Alana said with a smile.

“I suggested the color.” Taloni beamed.

“It’s perfect, thank you.” She looked at Ethan’s wives, who were now her fellow wives.

She could look forward to seeing all of them for the rest of her life. Ethan had promised to never leave her, and she knew the rest of his wives would rather die than leave him. She would have them for the rest of her life. A group of wonderful women -- near sisters -- for the rest of her life.

Her eyes started leaking again.

She was about to try reigning in her emotions when she remembered that she didn’t need to.

Not anymore.

“Thank you all so much.” She said. And then to her own surprise as much as anyone else’s, she threw her arms around Taloni and Alana who were standing closest to her. Beth and Rachel moved in and made it a group hug, and Selene followed moments later, though she looked a bit unsure and awkward. Kendra found herself at the center of a group hug, and the five women hugging her were without a doubt the most wonderful women that she’d ever met.

She sighed.

It took more than a minute before Kendra let go. Her face was a bit of a teary mess, but they were happy tears.

“I really don’t deserve this, but thank you.” The dragon huntress said, her voice cracking slightly.

“No one deserves this.” Beth indicated the women around them and the Argo itself. “But thank Illuminar we have it.”

The other ladies all agreed except for Selene, who got a strange expression on her face as she suddenly looked anywhere except at the other women.

Rachel smiled at Kendra. “As the formerly ‘newest wife’, I can tell you that it gets easier.”

“Good, because I still feel like I don’t deserve--” She started to say, but Ethan telepathically contacted the group chat at that moment.

Um ladies, I might be taking a slight detour... He said, then explained about meeting a boy who wanted help for his parents.

“What’s Ethan got to say?” Selene asked after several moments, obviously guessing why they’d all fallen silent.

Kendra explained, then the caramel-haired beauty pursed her lips. “I don’t suppose there’s anything I can do to help?”

“I’ll ask.” Kendra replied, then thought to Ethan. Selene wants to know if there’s anything she can do to help.

Um, I don’t think so? He replied. I’m hoping I can take care of this quickly so we don’t even need to stop the Argo; those miners need help. If she came down, that would mean a fair bit of extra time to stop the Argo and lower the ladder, which would delay us quite a bit.

She relayed the message to Selene, whose shoulders slumped slightly and she nodded.

The caramel-haired beauty looked around for a moment, then sighed. “I guess I’ll go see if Raklan or Serif wants to spar; get ready for when I can actually do some good.”

She gave them a small wave and shuffled out of the room, closing the door behind her.

“She’s usually the first one to want to help.” Kendra mused after she’d left.

“Yeah, she seemed very frustrated when we were stuck in Gralden because she wanted to get down south to help those miners.” Alana agreed. “I really like and respect her for that.”

There was a general chorus of agreement among the ladies.

“It makes sense though.” Beth nodded. “I mean, with how beautiful, smart, and hardworking she is, she could’ve done almost anything on Ethan’s world. Yet she chose to become one of those ‘fib’ agents.”

“I think master said that it’s the F-B-I, not the F-I-B.” Taloni said. “But I agree; she’s an amazing person and we’re lucky to have her with us.”

Another chorus of agreement.

“And the way she trains ... wow.” Rachel nodded. “Even I’m not that dedicated.”

“I wish I was more like her.” Beth sighed.

No one disagreed.

Selene sighed after first Serif and then Raklan declined to spar, citing ship duties. She felt completely useless and wished she could do something to help, but couldn’t. She hated the idea that the rest of the crew knew how little good she was doing. She wanted them to think well of her because they were such good people. Sadly, she just knew that they didn’t; how could they?

They were too good to dislike her, but she wished that they thought well of her and respected her.

She shook her head.

Damn.

She was about to start aimlessly pacing the deck near the bow when Ethan landed on the weather deck with an armful of wet sheets. His wives piled out of the captain’s cabin to greet him.

“I’ll take those.” Kendra volunteered.

“You might want to hang them to dry.” He suggested as he started handing them over.

“I’ll take them master.” Taloni said brightly, intercepting the sheets before the raven-haired woman could accept them. “You just have a good look at Kendra.”

He did, then did a double take and whistled. “Damn! Kendra, you look amazing.”

She blushed slightly, then did an awkward curtsey. Ethan lifted his hand and twirled a finger, indicating that she should twirl. The dragon huntress did, and the lower portion of her dress flared up a bit as she did so. It looked like it was a half-circle skirt, or perhaps a bit less, so it didn’t flare out too much. However it flowed very well. It would be perfect for dancing and would look very elegant while doing so.

Ethan wolf whistled. “Nice. I’d love to stay longer and admire you, but I told Ben I would be back soon.”

“Ben?” Selene asked.

“The boy who wanted help for his parents.” He replied.

“Could I come master?” Taloni asked. “I could fly down with you, and you might seem a bit less scary if I was on your arm.”

He scrutinized her for a moment. “Sure, but grab the weight reduction necklace and bring it with you. I’m hoping this doesn’t take long, but we might have a fair amount of flying ahead of us if it does.”

“Thank you master.” She beamed, hopped up to kiss his cheek, her wings letting her linger for a moment, then skipped off into the captain’s cabin with the sheets in her arms.

He looked at Alana. “Like I said, I hope this is quick. If not though, I’ll let you know and you can tell Anthiel to stop the Argo for a bit. I’m hoping it won’t be necessary, but I’ll let you know if it is.”

“Yes sir.” She nodded.

Ethan turned to Kendra. “I’d love to talk more, but I need to get going. Will you be okay for a bit?”

She nodded. “Yes Drago.”

Selene resisted the urge to roll her eyes; it appeared that going to bed with Ethan meant you came up with a ridiculously servile name for him. She had read -- and greatly enjoyed -- more than one erotic story with such Dom/Sub dynamics. In fact, she sought out those stories out on a not-infrequent basis; but it wasn’t the same in real life.

As she thought about it, she realized that she’d also sought out more than one ‘harem’ story too. She frowned. Yeah, erotic fiction was definitely different than real life. Just because something was her kink in a story didn’t mean she wanted it in real life. That was a definite no; she had no interest. None of any kind. Her bet with Anthiel came to mind, but she didn’t think that was the same thing.

Not at all.

Ethan turned to Rachel. “You too beautiful; I know you’re dealing with a lot considering everything we learned about your father. But I’m just a thought away if you want to talk, or we can talk more when I get back.”

“Thank you my lord.” She nodded.

“That goes for you too Beth.” He turned to the blonde. “You handled things with your father wonderfully, but I know it still tears you up inside.”

His youngest wife gave him a pained smile.

Then Ethan turned to Alana and opened his mouth, but then closed it. A few seconds later the wood elf nodded with a grateful smile on her face. Judging by the confused looks on everyone else’s faces, he’d talked to her alone.

“I’m ready master.” The Fey came bounding out of the captain’s cabin, tucking the weight reduction necklace into a cleverly concealed pocket in her dress. Alana had apparently been clever when making them since they all had pockets, which Selene thought could only be a good thing.

“I know you’re all dealing with some stuff.” Ethan continued, and the Brazilian woman noticed that he looked at her too for a moment before he continued. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, but I don’t feel like I can just say ‘no’ when someone asks for help, especially a kid.”

“That’s not a bad thing.” Selene said, and the others agreed.

“Okay, I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He said, then stepped forward and gave his first four wives a tender kiss.

Kendra put a hand over her stomach and looked a bit green, but not nearly as much as she had in recent days. Oddly, she had a look on her face that was somewhere between disgust and anticipation, with a hint of a smile.

Ethan stopped in front of her and hesitated. “Forehead?”

She nodded, keeping her mouth closed and looking simultaneously a bit green. He gave her a quick peck on the forehead. She screwed her face up for a moment, then seemed to relax a bit and she looked a bit less green.

She sighed slightly before opening her eyes and gave him a half smile. “Thank you.”

“Any time.” He grinned, then turned and jumped off the side of the ship with Taloni right behind him.

The caramel-haired beauty stepped to the railing to look over it and saw him spread his wings as he dove back towards the forest. Taloni’s wings were beating so fast that they were a blur as she took off after him. Before long, they had slipped through the canopy and were out of sight.

Selene sighed.

She felt a bit jealous of the Fey who could be so useful on the ship. She had been doing most of the piloting lately, she also did inspections of the Argo’s sails and rigging because it was so easy for her since she could fly. She was an incredible healer, incredibly sweet, and she could fly.

Fly!

Alana had enchanted all of Ethan’s weapons, Beth could do that ‘astral projection’ thing in addition to her encyclopedic knowledge of the world, Rachel had saved their lives a bunch of times, and even Kendra was turning out to be incredibly useful on the ship.

However, Selene herself wasn’t.

Or at least, she didn’t feel like she was.

The worst part was that she didn’t know how to be more useful either. She’d spent every spare minute sparring, and even finally learned how to move her mana around. She hung her head as she thought about her mana. Apparently, her mana had a bit of a ‘pattern’ to its flow that literally no one else’s did. She hoped that wouldn’t affect her ability to use it, but she had an all-too-familiar feeling in the pit of her stomach that it would.

“Copper for your thoughts?” Rachel’s voice came from behind her.

“I just feel useless.” She sighed turning towards the teen mage. “I don’t know how to do anything that would help; I don’t have any skills that are useful on this world.”

“Oh.” The redhead leaned up against the railing. “Well, I don’t know if I can help you feel better right now. However, if what you’re feeling stems from a lack of useful skills, then I can certainly help you develop those skills.”

“Oh?” Selene asked hopefully.

“Yes.” Rachel smiled. “Did you want to start practicing magic now that you’ve learned to move your mana around?”

“Yes please.” She smiled from ear-to-ear.

Ethan and Taloni followed the boy -- Ben -- through a small section of woods and out onto a badly maintained road. They walked for only a quarter mile or so before the boy turned and started walking down a path that lead towards a small house surrounded by a field of partially grown crops, though Ethan wasn’t sure what kind of crop.

The house was quite small, being single story and maybe twenty feet on a side. It looked like it had seen better days, yet also like it was lovingly cared for too. There were flowers out front, though they looked like cultivated wildflowers. Everything was clean, but the house looked like it was in need of repair for want of materials. The thatched roof especially looked like it could use some TLC. It reminded him slightly of how Sarah’s inn had looked.

Sarah...

He felt his heart simultaneously both lighten and sink lower as he thought of the wonderful girl. It was stupid; he’d known her for a grand total of a couple hours, and yet--

He was shaken from his reverie by a scream from within the house.

“DRAGON!!!” A feminine voice shrieked. “Talven! There’s a dragon near Ben!”

Moments later, a young man of about thirty burst through the door of the house, drawing a sword from its scabbard. Both sword and scabbard had clearly seen better days. The scabbard was all beat up, but clearly well oiled. Likewise the blade had several small notches in it from prior use, but it was well-oiled and free from rust.

“Ben! Get away from that dragon!” The man -- Talven presumably -- shouted.

Ben obeyed his father and ran from Ethan, but not in a scared way. “Father, it’s the prophet of Illuminar. He’s come to help us.”

“I’m no threat to you or your family.” Ethan said, raising his hands to show he wasn’t going to hurt them.

Talven held up the sword and pointed it at Ethan, though they were separated by at least a dozen yards. “Don’t come any closer.”

Ethan stopped and sighed.

“Pa’pa, he really is the prophet.” Ben insisted.

“Prove it.” Talven said to Ethan, not lowering his sword.

Ethan almost wanted to chuckle. The man’s stance was too narrow and he held the sword in such a way as to make both attack and defense difficult; a fighter he was not.

“Give me a second.” He said, raising his hand and calling his war hammer, which was back on the Argo. Not long after, it zoomed through the air and landed in his hand.

Talven’s mouth fell open.

Ethan started charging it, and waited until it had enough charge to produce a visually impressive lightning bolt. Once it was charged enough, he threw it into the air and released the charge.

Crack!

The electricity arced down from the hammer to the ground with a loud sound, though not deafening since he hadn’t charged it much.

“Good enough?” He asked the other man as he called the hammer back to his hand.

Talven lowered his sword. “The p ... the proph...” He took a deep breath. “You’re here; thank Illuminar -- blessed be He.”

“Blessed be He.” Ethan echoed, not because of any particular religious conviction, but because it seemed like the right thing to say at the moment.

A woman in her twenties came out of the house with a baby on her hip and a shocked expression on her face. The couple stared at him for several seconds before their son broke the silence.

“I told you Pa’pa; he can help.”

“The Prophet of Illuminar -- blessed be He.” The man’s jaw went slightly slack as he looked at Ethan. “I’m sorry I threatened you, I ... I didn’t know.”

“I don’t blame you, not one bit; I would’ve done the same to protect my family.” He gave them a smile, which in hindsight might not have been the best move since it revealed his sharp teeth. He corrected it to a grin and they relaxed slightly.

“I’m sorry, where are my manners.” The man said after a few moments. “My name is Talven, and this is my wife, Salma, and my son Ben.” He indicated each in turn.

Salma curtsied while still holding the baby. “Pleasure.”

“I’m Ethan, and this one of my wives, Taloni.” He indicated the Fey.

“It’s a pleasure to meet both of you, won’t you come in?” Talven said a few moments later. “We don’t have much, but we would be honored by your presence.”