Chapter 51: Lies, Damned lies, and Statistics

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

Ethan blinked his eyes, trying to keep them open as he flew through the air. He looked down and sure enough, that demon-possessed man was still chasing him, running nearly as fast as Ethan could fly. More than once, Ethan had considered trying to find some large terrain obstacles that the man would have to climb over to slow him down, but there weren’t any nearby; this part of Ivernia simply didn’t have them. There were rolling hills, but that was about it and they weren’t enough.

^∗Kendra, you had some advice about not being prey; any input would be helpful.^∗ He thought to everyone.

^∗Normally I would suggest leading him into an ambush, but you don’t have any support nearby.^∗ The dragon huntress replied. ^∗Your next best option is to choose a battlefield that will benefit you more than him.^∗

^∗Any ideas about that?^∗ He asked as he yawned. The adrenaline was wearing off slightly and he was feeling his exhaustion.

^∗I assume he’s about like Sarah in terms of ability?^∗ Kendra hadn’t ever met her, but she had heard the stories in great detail.

^∗Yup.^∗

^∗Grenades?^∗ Rachel suggested. ^∗Or lightning from your hammer?^∗

^∗No, he could dodge the grenades too easily with his speed.^∗ Kendra replied. ^∗Or worse he could throw them back.^∗

^∗I don’t have many of them either.^∗ Ethan added. ^∗And lightning is a no-go as well. It’s never been an issue before because I’ve always been reasonably close, but I need to be somewhat close to target it to a person. If I got that close, he could throw something through my wing like Sarah did and then I’d be in real trouble. I certainly don’t want to get close enough to risk it.^∗

There was a long pause before Kendra spoke again. ^∗Perhaps a shallow body of water would be a good idea. The extra resistance from the water will slow him down and help nullify his speed advantage.^∗

Ethan breathed a sigh of relief at the brilliant suggestion. ^∗Kendra, when was the last time I told you that I love you?^∗

^∗Just minutes ago; you said you loved all of us.^∗

^∗Well, it’s true. I love you Kendra. If I make it through this--^∗

^∗When.^∗ Alana interrupted, her tone firm. ^∗It’s not ‘if’ you make it through, but when you make it through.^∗

^∗Then when I make it through this, it’ll be because of my brown-eyed beauty.^∗

^∗Thank you.^∗ Kendra replied, and he could both feel the cozy, warm feeling from her through their bond and hear her sheepish pleasure at his praise. ^∗But that idea does come with a danger; he might try to drown you.^∗

^∗So a shallow body of water then, like a pond.^∗ Ethan mused. ^∗I know he could drown me in less than a foot, but about three feet will be deep enough to slow his movement but shallow enough that it’ll be harder for him to drown me.^∗

^∗You might want to enchant your lungs to hold more air.^∗ His resident enchantress suggested. ^∗That would help in case he does tackle you underwater.^∗

^∗That’s a good idea, but I don’t have a way to replenish my mana without you ladies around.^∗ He replied. ^∗I might need the mana I have to heal injuries.^∗

^∗Lung tissue isn’t very dense.^∗ Kendra said clinically. ^∗It might not take much to increase it significantly.^∗

^∗Let me check.^∗ Ethan did, moving his mana around a bit and setting up the enchantment but not applying it. ^∗Yeah, not too much.^∗ He frowned for several seconds. ^∗I’ll increase my lung capacity a little and save the rest in case I need to heal.^∗

^∗Good idea my lord.^∗

^∗Please be careful Master.^∗

^∗Yes Dominus, we can’t lose you.^∗

^∗Yeah, please don’t die.^∗ Selene added, her mental tone full of false bravado with a strong undercurrent of concern. ^∗I’d rather not have to deal with five distraught widows.^∗

^∗I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you won’t need to.^∗ He replied.

^∗Make sure you do.^∗ Alana chimed in. Her tone was strong and almost threatening, but also hopeful and almost pleading.

^∗I will.^∗ He replied, then started looking for a small pond in which to fight a demon-possessed man.

Knock, knock!

“I’m betting that’ll be Amy.” Fiona said as she bounced her adorable Conner on her lap a bit, her voice sliding into baby talk. “Isn’t that Amy? Isn’t it little guy?”

The baby screwed up his face and smiled widely. It almost looked like he was trying to laugh but had forgotten how. He did make a bunch of adorable happy sounds though, as babies often do.

He smiled just like Sean.

The sight simultaneously made her smile and made her heart ache. Well, ache worse. Ever since Sean had died, she had felt an almost physical ache. It wasn’t normal grief though; it was more than that. She had been very close to her father when he had died and it had hurt, but not like this. When Fiona and Sean had bonded at their wedding, she had felt him become a part of her.

So when he had died...

She sighed as she looked at her beautiful boy. Her child brought a lot of happiness into her heart, but it felt like a part of her had been broken off when Sean had died, or maybe like it had been cut off? It felt like a part of her was missing, like there was a hole in her heart that wouldn’t be filled.

“Hi, come in.” Sarah said from the doorway after opening it to reveal Amy standing there holding a large wicker basket. The innkeeper’s daughter seemed even more cheerful than normal these days, which was saying something.

“Hi.” Amy said to her, then looked at the copper-haired woman. “Hi Fiona, hi Conner.”

Conner made a happy-baby noise.

“Hi Amy, how are you doing?” Fiona replied.

The girl had a small but genuine smile as she replied. “Better now. I wasn’t having a very good day until Sarah visited me.”

Behind Amy, Sarah’s smile got even wider.

“So, I’m hearing that you want to be painting the room?”

They both nodded and Sarah spoke. “You should see Amy’s room Fiona; it’s amazing!”

“Aye, I’m betting it is. So, what were you wanting to paint in here?”

“Well, I was thinking that some flowers on the wall would be really nice.” Sarah replied. “And maybe a sun higher up on the wall? It would be sad to have flowers with no sun to shine on them.” She looked at Fiona. “Would that be okay? I mean, it’s your room.”

Fiona chuckled. “Sarah, it’s our room. But yes, I’m thinking that would be lovely.”

Sarah’s smile widened even further and Fiona didn’t think it was because of the approval for painting.

“The sun at what time of day?” Amy asked. “I could do just a yellow sun at midday, or a sunrise, or a sunset. What do you want?”

“Could we do some combination of them?” Sarah asked after a moment.

“What do you mean?” Amy replied.

That question led to a very long and involved brainstorming session between the two artistic girls while Fiona watched with an amused smile. Before long, it was hard to tell who wanted the room painted more, Amy or Sarah. The idea slowly grew and grew over the hour that they talked. The longer they talked, the more often one of them would giggle or squeal with delight. Fiona had never heard Sarah do either before and it was a right fine thing to be hearing from her.

“So, we’ll do a sunrise on the ceiling over on the spring wall.” Amy summarized as she indicated the east side of the room, which happened to be Fiona’s side. “Then we’ll do the sun at noon in the middle of the ceiling, but there the sun will be behind the clouds so we don’t have more than one sun. Then over on the west side -- the autumn side -- we’ll do sunset-like clouds on the ceiling, but again with the sun hidden behind the clouds.”

Sarah beamed as she indicated the east wall. “And then we’ll have the morning flowers which have just started opening to welcome the sun over here on the spring side of the room.” She then pointed to the south side. “On this wall, we’ll have the summer flowers in full bloom.” Then she indicated the west side. “And then on the autumn side, we’ll have some flowers like Mirellas which close at night mixed in with the trees whose leaves are the gorgeous colors of fall.”

Amy clapped her hands together excitedly. “And then on the north side of the room, we’ll do a winter theme with evergreen trees and a few bare trees covered in freshly fallen snow so they look beautiful.”

“Oh!” Sarah exclaimed. “Could you make it look like it’s snowing?”

“Absolutely!” Amy was nearly luminescent she was so excited. “And then on the ceiling -- at some point when we can afford it -- I’ll use some paint that’s enchanted to absorb light so it glows for a few hours at night, and then paint the stars of the night sky on the ceiling so we can see the stars while we’re falling asleep.”

“This is going to be so wonderful!” Sarah exclaimed, then did a pirouette as she moved her arms in a graceful fashion.

Fiona smiled, then cocked her head to one side as she realized something. “So Amy, how much will this be costing? ‘tis sounding wonderful, but rather elaborate and that usually is meaning expensive.”

For the first time since Sarah and Amy had started brainstorming, their visitor’s face was less than perfectly happy. “Oh, um...” She frowned.

“I mean, I assume it’ll be taking a long time and a lot of paint.” Fiona added. “Neither Sarah nor I are overflowing with coin, so...”

Amy looked at the two of them. “Uh, hmm...” She looked at the wicker basket she had brought which definitely didn’t have enough paint to accomplish what they had talked about. “I’ve never done anything this big before so I don’t know.”

“And that’s a lot of paint to be bringing down two floors and across the building.” Fiona added, an idea occurring to her since she knew how happy this was making both Sarah and Amy. She had also been suspecting that Amy was living alone, a fact that Sarah had confirmed after meeting with her earlier.

“It’s not too much if I only take what I need for that day.” Amy replied after several moments, still with a thoughtful frown on her face.

“Aye, that’s true.” The copper-haired woman replied. “But it would be a lot less work if you were just leaving some of those painting supplies here.”

“I ... I could do that.” Amy nodded.

“But then, it might be more convenient if you were keeping the rest of your things here too.” Fiona added with a smile and pointed look. “Unless you aren’t wanting to of course.”

“You mean, I could move in here?” Amy’s eyes went wide.

“Well, it’s a bit sudden, but I wouldn’t be minding.” Fiona winked and then looked at Sarah. “You?”

“I would love that!” She turned to Amy. “Could you teach me to paint?”

Amy bit her lip and looked down. “Tia and Mia wouldn’t like that.”

“Who are Tia and Mia?” Sarah asked.

“The two girls you saw who...” She trailed off. “They might make things hard for you. They don’t mind if I paint rooms because they get some of--” She stopped and started intently examining her shoes.

Ah.

Fiona internally grimaced as what she had suspected was confirmed; they were forcing Amy to give them some of the money she made from painting other girls’ rooms.

“Don’t you be worrying about them.” The copper-haired woman replied, thinking about her newfound trusted status with Lord Delmar and his steward. “We’ll be fine, and there’s nothing they can be doing to us.”

“I don’t know, they are good at...” Amy was still intently staring at the floor as she hesitated. “Well, there’s a reason I live alone and don’t have any friends anymore.”

“Didn’t.” Sarah corrected gently. “You didn’t have any friends; you do now.”

“And you were living alone, not are living alone.” Fiona added. ‘Well, unless you’re wanting to.”

“But Tia and Mia will--” Amy began.

“We don’t care.” Sarah said firmly. “We aren’t afraid of them.”

Fiona could almost feel her heart swelling at how much the innkeeper’s daughter had grown since learning that she didn’t need to be afraid all the time. It was like she had come out of a shell she’d been trapped in her entire life, or at least since she had gotten her demon. The copper-haired woman was seeing a whole new brave and artistic side of her that had apparently been buried for many, many years. It seemed that side of her was now bursting into bloom.

It was really good to see.

Even better was that she was truly being good to Amy. Sarah had gone out of her way to help her and Fiona couldn’t be more proud of the innkeeper’s daughter.

“I ... I’ll think about it.” Amy said after several long moments.

“Okay, but the offer is always open.” Sarah said. “As long as you won’t mind occasionally being woken up by Conner.”

“I wouldn’t.” Amy said quietly, but she was smiling.

The three women talked for a little while longer before Amy left. Sarah peeked out the door before closing it and she had a frown on her face when she turned around.

“What?” Fiona asked.

“I thought I saw someone watching from the end of the hall, but I’m not sure.” She replied. “That’s the second time I thought I saw someone watching me today. When I left Amy’s room earlier there was definitely someone watching me.”

“Are you knowing who it was?”

Sarah shook her head. “I didn’t get a good enough look either time.”

“That’s strange.” It was Fiona’s turn to frown. “Well, I would be taking more care then; we wouldn’t want anything to be happening.”

Sarah nodded, then looked at the copper-haired woman and cocked her head to one side. “You like to take care of people.”

“I do?”

“Yeah.” The innkeeper’s daughter nodded slowly like she was just realizing something. “You took me in when I didn’t have anyone, and now you’re doing the same with Amy. You’re like a mother figure--” She stopped. “No, maybe more like an older sister or something like that. You like to take care of people.”

“Thank you.” Fiona smiled.

“Thank you.” Sarah replied. “I can’t even begin to describe how much that’s meant to me. I think it will mean the same to Amy, especially if she decides to move in here.”

“I think she’ll be deciding to, and probably soon.”

“Oh?”

“Aye.” Fiona nodded. “She was looking a little like you when I first met you. I think that Amy will be--”

Knock! Knock!

Since she was still standing by the door, Sarah opened it again.

It was Amy.

“Um, I was walking back to my room, realized that tonight I would be alone again, and I thought...” She looked down slightly and her tone was hopeful. “Is ... is that offer still open?”

Fiona and Sarah both smiled widely.

Ethan finally spied what he was looking for far ahead, which was good because he was really starting to feel how tired he was. He was starting to get a low-grade headache and his eyes occasionally got a little dry, even with his second transparent eyelid blocking the wind. The pond was quite wide, mostly clear, and looked to be between two and four feet deep judging by a few reeds he could see. Frankly, it was ideal.

The moon was out and lit the entire area with a dull blue glow. The area around the pond was sparsely wooded on one side and there was a large field on the other. In the field, he could see fireflies -- or something like them -- creating cheerful pockets of yellow light in the sea of almost ethereal blue lighting in the area. It was a strange contrast that was quite beautiful. Overhead, there were only a few clouds in the night sky. They reflected the ethereal-blue light from the moon and paired perfectly with the slightly swaying grass in the field below.

He could think of nothing that he’d like to do better than to spend this night on the Argo relaxing with his wives, and maybe Selene.

Alas, that wouldn’t happen tonight.

^∗Drago, another thing occurs to me.^∗ Kendra thought to everyone. ^∗You don’t need to kill him, simply injure him enough that you can escape.^∗

^∗I assume on the legs somewhere?^∗ He asked.

^∗Anywhere on the legs is good, but the best place would be the tendons on the back of the ankle.^∗ The former Aldmiri replied. ^∗Cut just one of them and he’ll need to take several minutes to heal, during which you can fly low and fast to escape.^∗

^∗And my lord, I would suggest flying west initially for several minutes and then making a long, slow turn south towards Dotmier. That’ll disguise your true destination from him if you escape with him still alive.^∗

^∗Thank you, both of you.^∗ He thought to everyone. ^∗Especially my good girl.^∗

Kendra didn’t reply for several long moments. ^∗You’re welcome; just please come back to me.^∗

He frowned, then thought to her privately. ^∗Are you okay?^∗

^∗I might lose you in a few minutes Drago; of course I’m not okay.^∗ Her mental tone had a note of irritation, but an entire orchestra of concern.

^∗I’ll be okay.^∗ He replied. ^∗I would never want to make my good girl sad.^∗

She didn’t respond immediately, so he added. ^∗Do you want me to stop calling you that?^∗

^∗No.^∗ She replied instantly. ^∗No matter how untrue it is, I like hearing that at least one person thinks I’m good.^∗

^∗You are good.^∗ He replied firmly.

^∗I am many things Drago, but good has never been one of them. Not since I joined the Aldmiri.^∗

^∗We’ll have to talk more about that later.^∗ He finally replied as the pond came into diving range.

^∗If we must.^∗

^∗We must.^∗ He paused for a moment and then added. ^∗I love you Kendra, and you are a good person.^∗

^∗I love you too Drago.^∗ She replied after a moment, and he could almost hear how much she wanted to disagree with him about herself. She didn’t though, probably so she didn’t distract him.

He dived.

He had gotten far enough ahead of his pursuer that he was able to land in the pond and still have a moment to orient himself. The pond was indeed between two and four feet deep in most places. The place that he had landed was about three feet deep, perhaps a bit more. Importantly, his legs were fully submerged and thus his attacker’s legs would be as well. Also importantly, Ethan had landed on the far side of the pond from his attacker so the demon-possessed man would be forced to wade through the water to get to him.

The possessed man stop at the edge of the pond, eyeing Ethan as one might look down on a mass murderer or serial rapist. Ethan shuddered slightly at the look and his dragon side was screaming for him to run. He didn’t though. He stayed put, knowing that running would only lead to exhaustion and eventual death at the hands of this implacable foe.

Now that they weren’t on the Astral Plane and Ethan couldn’t see that dark aura around him, he could get a proper look. The possessed man was wearing simple clothes that would blend in almost anywhere in Ivernia and the Ten Kingdoms at large. He was a little larger than Ethan, but not much. He had the same sort of nondescript haircut and look that Kendra had worn when he’d first met her. It was a look that was designed to blend in almost anywhere.

^∗It really sucks that I can only use Aharown while I’m on the Astral Plane.^∗ Ethan thought to his wives.

^∗Indeed.^∗ Alana replied, but no one else said anything.

Ethan drew his war sword, for the first time thinking that the blade needed a name. He wasn’t sure what name, but he felt like it needed one. The demon-possessed man looked down his nose at the dragon-steel blade as if it wasn’t worth his attention.

That didn’t make Ethan feel better.

The man stood at the pond’s edge for almost a whole minute before finally stepping into the pond. No, he swaggered into the pond, he sauntered; he almost strutted. His gait and other body language betrayed no hint of hesitation or concern. The possessed man stopped about a dozen feet from Ethan, who raised his war sword until the tip was pointing straight at his pursuer’s heart.

“Why are you after me?” Ethan asked, not letting his guard down for an instant.

The possessed man sneered and then pointed a single finger at him. “Servant of Illuminar.” Like before, his voice was wispy and raspy, and it almost sounded like more than one person was speaking in perfect unison. It made the scales on the back of Ethan’s neck stand up slightly. The man’s tone was also dripping with derision and utter contempt.

“Is there any way we can talk about this?” Ethan asked. He was pretty sure that the answer was ‘no’, but there was no harm in trying.

The demon-possessed man got a wicked smile on his face as he slowly shook his head, a wicked and anticipatory smile growing on his face.

Ethan was struck by the difference between this man and Sarah. While the innkeeper’s daughter had clearly lost all control of herself when her demon came out, he didn’t get that impression with this man. Quite the opposite in fact. The man seemed perfectly at ease and comfortable even while the demon was clearly exerting its influence. Unlike Sarah, the man didn’t seem at all bothered by that. It almost looked like man and demon were...

... cooperating?

Then he moved.

In hindsight, Ethan should’ve been expecting an attack like the one he made, but there was no helping that now. The man used one of his hands to splash water at Ethan’s eyes. He raised one hand to block the deluge, but his sight was still obstructed momentarily. Thankfully, the water slowed the man down enough that Ethan was able to get his point back on line before the possessed man could get close enough to be dangerous.

Ethan thrust out, hoping to impale the man and finish this fight quickly.

It didn’t work.

The thrust landed on the man’s chest, but he leaned back to soften the strike and it only penetrated an inch, possibly less. It wasn’t because the man was out of range either; apparently his skin was just that tough. Ethan was wielding a dragon steel sword made by a master dwarven craftsman and it barely penetrated. He leaned forward and put all his weight and strength into the tip and it sunk a little deeper, but not much.

The demon-possessed man smirked.

Then he clapped his hands onto either side of the flat of Ethan’s blade, pressing them together to grip the war sword’s blade. The tip had entered the man’s body slightly so the tip couldn’t move, and the man’s supernaturally-enhanced strength made it nearly impossible to move laterally as well. Ethan tried to jerk it back, but found it nearly impossible because of the man’s demonically-enhanced strength.

“Fuck.” Ethan breathed, knowing that if he let go of the blade his opponent would use it against him. He braced his foot against the pond’s slimy bottom, dug his rear claw in, and then gave an almighty jerk while also twisting the blade. The demon-possessed man let go without warning, throwing Ethan off balance as he fell backwards. His enhanced reflexes gave him a moment to think as his attacker started forward, though he was slowed by the water.

His wings!

Ethan spread his wings out and flapped them to his rear, hoping to regain some semblance of balance. His wings hit the water and he caught his footing, but the demon-possessed man was already almost on top of him. Hoping to score one last victory before this devolved into a wrestling match in three feet of water, Ethan cut low with his sword. His plan had been mostly to distract since he didn’t expect the blade to bite.

He was pleasantly surprised.

He felt his blade bite, though not deeply. That didn’t make any sense since a thrust was always better at penetrating because the blade’s force was concentrated at the tip, while with a cut the force was spread out along the cutting edge. However, his cut had certainly gone as deep as his thrust. That shouldn’t be possible unless...

Armor.

The man must be wearing armor -- probably enchanted leather -- under his shirt. His skin wasn’t as impenetrable as Ethan had thought; he was merely armored!

Then they collided.

Ethan was knocked backwards into the water as the man nearly dived on top of him. Thankfully, Ethan had the presence of mind and enhanced reflexes necessary to take a breath before the water encompassed them both. His second, transparent eyelids were closed so he could see underwater nearly as well as on land. Not that it helped.

The demon-possessed man was trying to get a bear-hold on him, probably to crush him. Ethan hadn’t had much training in hand-to-hand combat, but being a dragon he had an advantage that no man did. He struck out with his claws, dropping his war sword and clawing at anything he could reach. While most of his claws didn’t bite deeply, the one claw that he had enchanted to be incredibly sharp did bite into the man’s skin a little.

That was important.

When Ethan had fought Sarah, even that ultra-sharp claw had just barely scratched the wonderful innkeeper’s daughter. However, that same claw was now biting somewhat into the possessed man’s skin in this fight.

Maybe this man was possessed by a weaker demon?

Ethan wasn’t sure how else to explain it, and yet the possessed man still hit like a freight train. The man was striking out underwater and pummeling Ethan almost everywhere. Fortunately, Ethan was wearing full armor and this possessed man couldn’t cave in his armor like Sarah had. That might be partially because the water was slowing him down though. It still felt like he was being pummeled by a heavyweight boxing champion though.

Ethan frantically struck out with his hand claws, and then remembered that -- being underwater -- he could use his foot claws too. He brought them to bear as well, hoping they would help.

For several long seconds, the two combatants stayed locked mostly under the water. Ethan clawed at anything he could reach and the demon-possessed man alternately pummeled him or else tried to grab Ethan’s frantically slashing limbs. Finally, one of Ethan’s foot claws hooked on something soft enough to catch and he used that leverage to push himself away as fast and as hard as he could.

The man grabbed Ethan’s foot, but he kicked out with the other one.

It connected.

The man let go as Ethan struggled to right himself in the shallow water, summoning his war sword as he did so. It took a moment, but he managed to stand up straight and took stock.

The demon-possessed man was almost completely uninjured. He had minor scratch marks all over his body and his clothes were shredded, but the scratches were superficial at best. Only a few of them were anything like deep and Ethan assumed those were made by his enchanted claw.

But the possessed man wasn’t bleeding.

Not at all.

In fact, Ethan couldn’t see any blood leaking from the man’s body at all. He could see wounds and he could see blood, but the blood didn’t appear to be leaking. In fact, it appeared to be staying put despite no obvious method of holding it in place.

The effect was unsettling.

“If it bleeds, we can kill it.” Ethan quoted aloud, wondering what to do against something that didn’t bleed. That was about the time that he noticed that the wounds were slowly closing as well.

Damn.

He needed something that he could use to take this guy out. Something that could punch through that thick skin, and maybe even the armor on the man’s chest. That’s when he remembered that he had such a weapon already. He sheathed his sword and grabbed his dagger. The tiny little point and high weight meant that it should be able to punch through. It would also be much more useful in close quarters than his very large war sword.

He slowly shook his head as he realized that Gabriella had been the one who gave his weapon designs to Graflex to make them. Apparently she -- or her lord Illuminar -- had been planning ahead.