Chapter 7: Hello from the other side.

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

IMPORTANT: Please read this whole chapter before you get upset; not everything is what it first appears.

“Guys, can we talk about this?” Ethan asked the advancing men. They were armed mostly with swords and they were only a couple yards away.

“Stop.” Came a commanding voice from atop one of the nearby buildings. The men stopped a few yards away from Ethan and the girls. The voice’s owner was an elf with half an arm missing. His skin was very dark grey, though he looked like he was healthy and fit. He was wearing what looked like an admirals’ coat from Earth’s Age of Sail, complete with a tricorn hat

“I would have words with you dragon.” The dark elf said. “My name is Falkaan.”

“And mine is Ethan. What can I do for you?” He tried to keep his voice light, but nearly two dozen swords pointing his way made that difficult.

“Why is the bounty on your life so high?” Falkaan asked.

“The short version?” Ethan said. “I used to be human and somehow got pulled into this dragon body from another world. One of Lord Delmar’s goons showed up, declared me an abomination that needed to be exterminated, and I’ve been running from him ever since.”

“They burned my home and business just because I wouldn’t hand Ethan over.” Alana added. “Then they chased us halfway across my forest trying to kill us.”

“Do you have any proof?” Falkaan asked.

“I do.” Rachel said. “Lord Delmar is my father and I can confirm everything they’re saying.”

At this pronouncement, many of the men started whispering among themselves, but Ethan was more interested in Falkaan because he seemed to lead them.

“Anyone can say they are Lord Delmar’s daughter.” Falkaan said. “It doesn’t make it true.”

“Then what kind of proof do you want?”

“Apparently the type you don’t have.” Falkaan said. “You broke the law and killed Lord Delmar’s men when they tried to capture you.”

“We broke no laws.” Alana said. “They attacked us without provocation, we merely defended ourselves.”

“Possibly.” Falkaan said. “I’m taking you in. We can let the courts settle this.”

“You know my father won’t give us a fair trial.” Rachel said.

“But you will have a trial, and he is the legitimate authority in this matter; therefore I will take you to him.” Falkaan said, then gestured to Beth and Rachel. “You two are free to go. You have broken no laws and my quarrel isn’t with you.”

Ethan turned to them. “Go back to the Argo and let them know what’s happened.”

Rachel opened her mouth to object, but Ethan cut her off. “He that fights and runs away, may live to fight another day. But he that is in battle slain, shall never rise to fight again.”

Rachel nodded and — with Beth leading the way — they started walking toward the men with swords. They didn’t part to let them pass.

“Hey boss.” One of the men said. “That red head there is Lord Delmar’s daughter. I bet he’d pay good gold to get her back.”

Rachel snorted. “Not again.”

Falkaan shook his head. “We are not here for her. Let her leave.”

The men didn’t move.

“Let them go.” Falkaan commanded but the men didn’t move. Beth was mere feet from the armed men, but they only had eyes for Rachel. The dark elf clearly wasn’t in control of them any longer.

Falkaan himself looked ... concerned.

“I think Lord Delmar should pay for his daughter.” One of the men said. “One way or another.”

“There’s nothing new under the sun.” Ethan shook his head. It was Wulvren’s plan to ransom Rachel back to Lord Delmar all over again. Somehow, he didn’t think it would go over very well.

One of the armed men reached out to grab Rachel, who jumped back. Missing his intended target, the man grabbed Beth and held her with a sword at her throat.

“Give us the red head, or the little blond tart gets it.” he said.

Ethan could feel the dragon in him welling up with rage at the threat to his mate-- err, wife. He did everything he could to keep the dragon under control because losing control could mean losing her life.

“Let her go.” Falkaan commanded, but the men ignored him.

“Now, you’re all coming with us for a nice trip to see Lord Delmar.” Said the man who was holding Beth at sword point.

Ethan was barely holding on to his sanity. He could feel the dragon clawing to get out; to take over and rip these insignificant meat sacks apart. Ethan shook his head and tried to get a handle on his emotions.

“We should take their airship too.” One of the other men said. “Pile on the profit from this job and we’ll live like kings.” There was a general murmur of agreement among the men.

“It’s a dragon’s airship.” 0ne of the men said. “I bet it’s loaded with gold.”

He snapped.

Alana felt it before she saw it.

She could feel the shift in Ethan’s emotions the moment the man said “gold”. His emotions and body language completely changed. The disguise gem clicked off to reveal Ethan in all his draconic glory. The steel gray scales, the long razor sharp teeth, and the claws that looked like they could rip through steel.

This wasn’t Ethan.

This was the dragon.

The dragon stayed on its hind legs, spread its wings to make himself look larger and more intimidating, then opened its mouth and roared. The dreadful sound froze the men like they had been turned to stone. A few dropped their weapons and wet spots appeared on the groins of several.

When the dragon was finished roaring, he dropped down to all fours and slowly began stalking toward the man who held Beth. The rest seemed like they were teetering on the precipice of fight or flight.

The dragon opened its mouth and spoke two words. “Run ssscum.” The words came out in a sibilant cadence, like a snake had spoken them. Alana could hear Ethan’s voice, but it didn’t sound like him at all. It was a threatening growl that promised extreme pain for those who disobeyed.

That tipped the scales between fight and flight. One of the men turned and ran at top speed. Like a herd of wild animals, the rest followed suit ... Almost.

The one man still held a sword to Beth’s throat. He was clearly petrified out of his mind and just too frozen too move. There was a large wet spot on the front of his pants and he was shaking like a leaf.

The dragon took a step closer to the man. “Leave.”

‘No, no stop.” He whimpered.

The dragon took another step closer.

“Stop, stop or I’ll kill her.” The man said, though he was still shaking like a leaf. A small cut appear on Beth’s neck as the sword wavered in his trembling hand.

A low growl escaped the dragon’s throat as he took another step. Apparently, that’s all it took. The man completely lost his nerve. Alana had seen men do stupid things when scared, but this man was beyond terror. He made sharp jerking motion with his sword and the blade was instantly covered in red.

“Beth!” Alana gasped as blood began to gush from Beth’s neck.

The man pushed Beth at the dragon and turned to flee. He never got the chance. The dragon took a single flying leap over the blonde and pinned him to the ground before he’d taken three steps. The dragon began ripping and tearing the man with its teeth and claws, its tail waving around wildly as he attacked.

Beth clutched her neck and the color completely drained from her face. She fell to the ground and Alana ran over hoping she wasn’t too late with a healing spell. She narrowly avoided being hit by the dragon’s tail as she ducked under it to check her neck. The carotid arteries on both sides of her neck had been severed and she had lost a LOT of blood.

Alana dodged the dragon’s thrashing tail a second time, then summoned all her mana to heal Beth. She was just about to throw her mana at the wound when:

WHAM!

The dragon’s thrashing tail smacked her hard on the side of the head.

The wood elf was knocked to the ground in a daze. It took her several precious seconds to regain her balance, and several more for the world to stop spinning. She half stumbled, half crawled toward Beth hoping against hope she would get there in time.

She didn’t.

Beth was completely still and the pool of blood around her was large.

Too large.

Beth’s eyes were open, unblinking ... Vacant.

But that’s not what let Alana know that Beth was gone. She could feel negatively charged magic slowly leaking from Beth’s body. That only happened when a living being died.

Alana fell backwards and slipped on the ever expanding pool of blood. Beth’s blood.

“Ethan.” Alana said weakly.

The dragon whipped around and snapped at her. Then it saw Beth’s body. She could slowly feel human emotions returning to Ethan, which was good because she didn’t know how to feel. Her mind and emotions seemed to have gone blank. She stared at the sight before her in complete disbelief.

How could Beth be gone?

The dragon — Ethan — stared at Beth’s body without moving. She felt his anguish flood over their bond.

NO! A voice shouted in her head.

The scream of pain and rage washed over her mind like waves breaking over a sand castle. Alana screamed in pain as the voice echoed around her skull. She clapped her hands over her ears, but it didn’t help.

STOP! Alana screamed out to the voice, both with her mouth and her mind.

Ethan recoiled as if someone had punched him in the face. He clutched his head the same way Alana was, like someone had turned the inside of his skull into a drum. They both fell to the ground and it took a few seconds for Alana’s splitting headache to subside enough for rational thought.

She looked around to get her bearings.

The alley was deserted except for Ethan, Rachel, herself and Beth’s body. Rachel stood frozen like a statue exactly where she had been when Beth...

She shook her head, but that just caused the splitting headache to return. She waited a moment, and struggled to stand, both her hands and knees slipping several times in the wet cobblestone pavement. She got unsteadily on her feet, head still pounding from the echoing voice and being hit by the dragon’s tail.

The world had just stopped spinning when at least a dozen men — Arcanum guards by the uniforms — ran into the alley from both ends. They all had swords drawn and the moment they saw the dragon, they closed ranks to form a line to prevent anyone escaping.

“Drop your weapons and put your hands in the air.” The one who was clearly in charge ordered

Alana and Ethan raised their hands, but Rachel didn’t. She was obviously still too stunned, and just kept staring at Beth’s body. The guards ran up to them, swords raised and wary.

“You’re under arrest for murder.” The officer in charge said. “Don’t attempt to resist or we’ll kill you were you stand.

“We didn’t kill her.” Alana said. “There was-”

The officer in charge slapped Alana across the face. “Shut up unless you want worse.”

“But Ethan didn’t--” she started to say, but didn’t get to finish. Something heavy and hard hit her on the back of the head before she could. The last thing she saw before blacking out was the pavement rushing toward her face.

Beth felt strange.

No, strike that; she felt normal and the whole world felt strange.

She was drifting upward in a sea of purple. Below her, she could see the alley and everything in it encased in a strange purple hue. Everything was slowly falling away as a gentle force pulled her ever upwards toward a brilliant light in the far distance. It was massive and brighter than the sun, yet there was no harshness to it. It was comforting, like the soft glow of a flickering candle in the darkness.

She thought she was dead; it seemed like she was dead.

It was surreal, but she didn’t feel dead.

She could still see her lifeless body lying in the alley, her blood pooling around her and trickling in a dozen tiny streams. She wasn’t breathing though. Ethan and Alana had certainly seemed distraught like she was dead.

She probably was dead, but she didn’t feel like it.

A million questions zoomed around her head. Foremost among them was not the question of her mortality, but rather of her present location. Well, not her location, but rather why the whole world was purple. It sounded like the story Ethan had told about astral projection. However, he’d been able to walk around while she could only drift upwards.

She’d always heard that when you die, the great God Illuminar pulls the righteous into his loving light. She hoped that’s where she was headed. If so, she had a lot of questions for Him.

As she ran through the list of questions she wanted to ask God, she felt something touch her ankle. She looked down to see a dark, shadowy tendril that resembled a vine twisting around her ankle.

The tendril was the only thing she could see that wasn’t purple. It was as black as pitch or midnight on a moonless sky. Its color seemed to come from the fact that it had no color. It seemed to suck the light from everywhere around it. Even so, it didn’t get brighter at all. It was like a hole; a bottomless pit.

Something about it looked...

There was no other word for it; evil.

In a flash, it wrapped around her ankle, which instantly felt like it had been put through the ice of a lake in mid-winter. She bent down to try and free herself, but — even though the tendril undulated like seaweed in the tide — it seemed more like iron to her fingers. It was absolutely immoveable and her fingers became numb from the cold at the lightest contact.

“Help!” she screamed. “Somebody help me!”

No one answered.

Once the tendril seemed satisfied it had a good grip, it began to pull. It felt like her entire soul was being ripped apart, yet there was no pain. The gentle tugging force that pulled her toward the light was inexorable, but the tendril was persistent. Her upward ascent gradually slowed, stopped completely, and then began to reverse direction.

She scratched, clawed and kicked against the shadowy tendril, but all to no avail. Her hands felt like they were on fire from the cold and rubbed completely raw when she finally gave up the effort. But to her surprise, her hands looked undamaged.

As she sank lower, she noticed another light in the far distance. It was like the light she’d been drifting towards, but a fraction as bright. It looked like it surrounded a woman who was watching her intently from a long way off.

“Help!” Beth shouted at her. “Please help me!”

The bright woman didn’t move.

It felt like an eternity later that the tendril finally stopped pulling. Beth had been pulled through the roof of a building near the alley. She was in a room that — like everything else — had that strange purple hue. The tendril came up from the floor, and looked attached to some mystical symbols drawn on the floor.

The room itself looked like some sort of magical laboratory, though a hastily constructed one. Open wooden crates where piled in one corner of the room. Some were still filled with packing straw and various magical items; some of which she recognized, most of which she didn’t.

There were several gruff, burly looking men moving various heavy implements and furniture around the room. They looked like the sort of cheap labor his father often hired for construction projects.

A very different sort of man stood in the center of the room with his back toward her, though she wasn’t sure ‘man’ was the right word. Like the tendril, he was black as night. However, the ‘color’ seemed to be more from the absence of light than from any actual color. He — or it — was wearing a long flowing cloak that billowed like grass in the breeze or seaweed in the current. He was clearly human shaped, but there were several bulges and irregularities under the cloak that she couldn’t account for.

“Help me!” she screamed at the laborers, but they didn’t seem to hear her.

She screamed several more times, but no matter how loud she shouted they didn’t respond. They took directions from the strange shadowy figure, but seemed completely oblivious to his shadowy nature and treated him like any human.

When all the men had finished unloading and placing the items, the shadowy figure paid them and they left.

“Elizabeth Borden.” It said in a slow, breathy voice. For the first time, she noticed there was something wrong with its voice. It was like a small legion of people were speaking in perfect unison, yet also like only one person. The effect chilled her to the bone.

“What, what do ... how...?” Beth’s courage failed her and she fell silent.

“Always the questions, ever since you were little.” It took a long, slow rattling breath, like it was trying to suck more than air from the room.

“How, how...”

“Very soon you will comply.” The shadowy figure turned and she could see beneath the hood. There was nothing there. More accurately, the hood’s opening looked like the mouth of some great bottomless pit. She had never been so scared in her entire life. It was like that thing — for it was no man — sucked the life out of the air.

The door opened and two of the laborers came in carrying a large box. They set it down carefully, then left. Another man entered moments later, though he definitely wasn’t a laborer.

He wore a long robe and a pointed hat with an embroidered star that identified him as a member of the wizards’ council. He looked quite young, though something about him seemed very unhealthy. The wizard casually flicked his hand toward the crate and the lid magically popped off to reveal--

Her jaw dropped.

She stared open-mouthed at the sight, transfixed by the surreal spectacle. Laying in the wooden box was a body.

Her body.

“How long?” the shadowy figure asked after turning away from her to the wizard.

“The wound is grievous, but reparable.” The blue wizard replied. “As instructed, I cast the stasis spell from afar mere moments after she died. But as for healing her wounds ... it would be simplicity itself without the stasis field or if your powers could help. Without them, it will take some time.”

“Begin.” The shadow figure ordered.

“As you wish my lord.”

The shadowy figure swept out of the room, leaving Beth alone with the wizard. After he left, life and light seemed to return to the area and Beth breathed a sigh of relief. Well, she tried. The air didn’t respond, yet strangely she didn’t feel like she was suffocating.

The wizard knelt by the wooden box, spread his hands over her body, and got a look of deep concentration. As the second ticked by, Beth watched in fascination. She’d seen mages work magic, but never a real wizard and — the strangeness notwithstanding — she wasn’t planning to miss it. Not that she could leave if she wanted to; the tendril kept her hovering the middle of the room suspended between its iron grip and the gentle pull of the light.

The wizard turned his attention to her body’s neck. Beth instantly recognized what he was doing as a healing spell, but it didn’t seem to be working. An hour later, she realized it was working; it just was taking forever. The cut across her throat was very large, and at this rate the wizard was going to be busy for a long time. Days at the minimum, possibly weeks.

That left Beth with a burning question: why bother healing a dead body?

Also, why her dead body?

Alana slowly drifted back to consciousness despite her best efforts. Her head felt like it had been used as a drum, her face felt like it had been used as grinding stone, and the rest of her body ached. The ground beneath her was cold and felt like stone; the air around her was no warmer. She considered opening her eyes to check, but that meant admitting light.

Her headache protested that idea quite strongly.

After a few minutes, the brain fog cleared and the pain subsided. She opened an eye to discover she was alone in a dank, dimly lit, and utterly bare stone room. There was a large wooded door with bars set into it and a wooden pail she assumed was her toilet because of the smell, and nothing else. There was no bed, no blankets, and no food or water.

As she lay there on the stone floor, her thoughts drifted to Ethan. She met him about six weeks ago and her entire life had been flipped upside down since then. Her farm had been destroyed, she had bonded, fallen in love, had her heart broken, watched the man she loved marry another woman, watched that woman die, seen Ethan rip men apart with his bare hands, and been in mortal danger more times than she could count.

Even with all of that, she wouldn’t have missed meeting him for the world. She smiled slightly and found it didn’t hurt.

Life certainly was strange.

Finally awake enough to think clearly, she began to call upon her mana to heal her wounds. She was pleased to discover they weren’t bad, just painful. A few minutes later they were all healed and she sat up.

“Ethan.” She called, but no one answered.

“Rachel?” She tried again, but still no response. She was about to call for Beth, when she realize Beth wouldn’t answer. She felt tears well up in her eyes and she didn’t stop them from falling. Despite the fact that Beth had separated her from Ethan, the wood elf genuinely like the girl had only wished them happiness. She never wanted ... this.

She sat for a long time trying to process her death. It just didn’t seem real; it didn’t seem possible. She replayed what happened endlessly in her mind. She’d done everything she could, everything she knew how to do. She found herself wishing she’d been faster with her healing spell.

As she thought about what happened in the alley, one unusual thing stood out to her; that echoing voice in her head. She had definitely heard it inside her head, not with her ears. With the anguish it projected, there was only one person it could be. He also happened to be the only person who might be able to project a thought into her head.

Ethan? Alana thought while directing her thoughts toward their bond. Ethan, can you hear me?

There was no response.

Ethan? she tried again, but she didn’t hear a response. She let her shoulders slump and leaned her head against the wall. It would be a long wait without someone to talk to.

Alana? A voice rang out in her head.

Ethan! she though back. You can hear me?

Yeah. This ... this is our bond isn’t it?

I think so.

Are you okay? he asked.

I’m a little banged up, but I healed myself. How are you?

Trussed up like Christmas turkey and I have a muzzle clamped around my mouth. Other than that, just peachy.

She was going ask what a Christmas turkey was, but thought better of it. How’s Rachel?

I think she’s okay Ethan replied. She was in shock and they treated her a lot more gently than you or I.

About Beth, Alana thought, but couldn’t think of a way to finish the sentence. Ethan didn’t respond, and silence hung in the air — or rather her head — for almost a minute.

I’m going to miss her. He finally said. She was ... I can’t believe that she’s gone.

I know what you mean.

No, I mean I really can’t believe it. He said after a few seconds. It doesn’t feel real. I know the first stage of grief is denial, but... He trailed off, and she could almost imagine the way that he’d shake his head slightly after saying that.

She was a good person and didn’t deserve that. Alana finished when he didn’t.

Yeah.

What happens now? She asked a few minutes later.

I need to get serious about life here. He replied and she detected a note of bitterness. I’ve been way too careless and Beth is dead because of it. I didn’t kill her, but it’s my fault she’s dead.

It’s not your fault. What could you have done differently to prevent it?

I don’t know. I just know it’s about time I took things seriously here.

Alana didn’t know what to say, so she fell silent. Considering their luck lately, she agreed more seriousness about the threats wouldn’t be a bad thing. However, there was something about the way he said it that bothered her. There was an edge to Ethan’s thoughts — a darkness — that didn’t sound quite like him.

Are you okay? she asked.

Beth just died. Ethan replied with a sharper edge in his thoughts. I’m sure as hell not okay.

That’s not what I meant. I just mean you just feel ... off.

Ethan didn’t respond, but Alana could feel his annoyance at the question. Something was going on with him. She didn’t know what, but she didn’t like it. It made sense that he would be feeling down after Beth’s death, but this was something more; something different.

She tried to figure out what Ethan was thinking, but she couldn’t keep her mind on it. She couldn’t exactly read his mind either. It seemed she could send him messages, but she couldn’t actually tell what he was thinking. That left her wondering what was going on with him.

Beth watched the wizard work in fascination for a little while before it became rather boring and tedious. She’d seen countless healing spells performed in the clinic with Madam Hygea and now they bored her. Even the novelty of watching him heal a body protected by a stasis spell only lasted a few minutes. He worked at healing the wound on her neck, but his progress was incredibly slow.

Outside, the sun seemed to have set, changing the hues of this strange astral plane from light purple to a dark purple.

She was bored.

Dear Illuminar in heaven she was bored.

“Greetings Beth.” A feminine voice said from behind her, making her jump out of her skin.

She turned as fast as possible while still being anchored to the inky black tendril. Behind her was a woman who was the only thing that wasn’t purple.

She was clad entirely in robes of the purest white. Her clothes and skin seemed to shine like the sun, but with the warmth of a flickering candle. She looked to be about Beth’s age, but that simply wasn’t possible. She had the beautiful face of a young woman untouched by age, but the eyes and presence of someone ancient and full of wisdom.

Her heart-shaped face was the picture of perfect femininity and was beautifully framed by her long hair. The hair itself was probably blond or white, but that might’ve just been the light. She had a soft smile on her face that instantly made Beth feel very comfortable and safe.

“Hello?” Beth replied with trepidation.

“Don’t be afraid.” The bright woman said. “My name is Gabriella and I was sent here to help you.”

“Who sent you?”

Gabriella smiled. “Always with the questions young one; He loves that about you.”

“Who?”

The luminous woman laughed. It was a cheerful, infectious laugh that made all the worry and fear completely disappear from Beth’s troubled soul. She was sure that the bright woman was laughing at her, but she didn’t feel the slightest bit ashamed or embarrassed. On the contrary, she managed a chuckle herself.

“I will release you Beth.” She gestured at the black tendril that was still fastened wrapped around her ankle, “but what happens after that is your choice.”

“Why?” She managed to grab onto the most interesting of the dozens of question racing around in her head.

“Because the one who sent me has no need of slaves, but prefers willing helpers.”

“You haven’t said who sent you.”

Gabriella smiled again; it was a very comforting smile. “Nor will I, but I think you can figure it out. However, time is short and I need you to make a decision.”

“What decision?”

“When I cut the tendril, you can resume floating toward the wonderful light, or remain in this world to help Ethan.”

“I want to help Ethan.” She replied almost without thinking.

“Are you sure young one? If you choose that path, there will be much heartbreak and sorrow on your journey, though there will be great joy and happiness when you finally reach its end.”

Beth bit her lip. That didn’t sound like a bad deal at all, but she was still wary. “What’s the catch?”

“The catch, is that while you will see Ethan soon, he will not see or hear you for some time. Further, you must share him young one.”

“Share him?”

“You’ve read the Book of Light. What has Illuminar — blessed be He — decreed about men and wives?”

“But that’s not fair!” Beth felt the skin on her face grow hot. “Why can men have multiple wives but women not have multiple husbands?!”