Chapter 6: The calm before the storm

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

Ethan took a deep breath. “Prepare to repel boarders!”

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

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

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

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

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

She nodded, then then did so.

“Defend the Quarterdeck.” Anthiel said. “If they take that they’ll control the ship.”

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

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

The pirates had landed.

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

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

Ethan did exactly what Heinrich trained him to do.

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

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

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

And barely missed having his head cut off.

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

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

“Ethan, protect the stairs.” Anthiel called.

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

Too deep.

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

“Hey.” Alana shouted.

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

Then something odd happened.

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

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

He turned white then slumped to the deck.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The other two mumbled something in agreement.

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

“And you won’t now.” She looked scared, but her voice was determined.

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

His war hammer though...

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

Ethan smiled.

“What’s so funny?” the pirate asked suspiciously.

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

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

“That.” Ethan said the moment the pirate’s blade left Alana’s neck.

He called his hammer with all his might.

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

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

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

The gold.

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

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

But something was wrong.

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

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

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

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

The pirates’ will was weaker.

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

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

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

This dragon was absolutely brutal.

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

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

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

“No Ethan, please don’t.” Alana shouted, but the dragon completely ignored her.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Are you okay?” she asked.

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

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

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

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

“I uh ... I’m going to go...” Ethan said, but didn’t seem to know where he wanted to go.

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

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

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

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

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

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

It unsettled her.

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

Then it slipped from her mind.

She shook her head confused.

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

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

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

“You think so?” he asked.

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

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

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

“You don’t remember doing ... you know, that?”

He shook his head.

“Maybe that’s a good thing,”

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

“Oh.” She didn’t know what else to say.

“I bet that’s why Lord Delmar gave that cube to me. I bet he was trying to really mess me up.”

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

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

“Why?”

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

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

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

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

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

Ethan looked at himself. “Yeah. I should.”

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

He nodded and went to do just that.

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

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

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

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

But this wasn’t a story.

This was real life.

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

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

Goodnight Ethan, she thought as she fell asleep.

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

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

Looking around he wasn’t so sure.

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

Everything had that same purple hue.

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

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

His hand passed right through her

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

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

Wrong.

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

It was the same with his vision.

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

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

Everything out here also had that strange purple hue.

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

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

“Anthiel.” Ethan said after walking up right next to her.

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

“Who’s there.” She said.

“It’s Ethan. I’m right here.” He answered, but she didn’t appear to hear him.

“Show yourself.” She said again.

“Anthiel, it’s Ethan.” He repeated, but she didn’t react this time either.

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

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

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

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

She also appeared to be sitting in mid-air.

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

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

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

The wood elf herself wasn’t sleeping too well.

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

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

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

Suddenly, he felt very tired himself.

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

Almost.

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

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

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

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