A Dragon’s Tale

Alana heard and remembered every single word that Rachel said to explain their current predicament. However, she wasn't giving it her full attention. Deep in her belly, she could feel that small, almost insignificant draw of mana that signaled the baby growing inside of her. It was tiny, fragile, and absolutely priceless to her.

She'd always heard her adopted mother talk about how a mother would do anything for her children. She'd never really understood what that meant until now. To feel new life growing in her womb was just...

Was just...

There were no words.

"So basically." Ethan summarized Rachel's briefing. "Hailey will be executed and I'll be held responsible for her actions because I never freed her in a legal sense."

"Yes." Rachel replied. "They won't kill you or anything though. It's likely to be a huge fine or something like that. They may even take the Argo if you can't pay."

Ethan looked at Alana and the wood elf's heart just melted. It wasn't so much him as it was the baby they'd created last night. She loved that a part of him had merged with a part of her to create life; a child. For some inexplicable reason, it really turned her on.

*Not really the time...* He thought to her.

*I know, I wasn't going to start anything it's just..." She put her hand over her womb. *I can't believe we did that together.*

*I know.* He got a huge dopy grin on his face, which was really cute to see.

"By Illuminar's name you didn't..." Rachel looked from Alana's hand on her stomach to the dopey grin on Ethan's face, then back to the wood elf. "You're not... are you?"

Grinning so widely her cheeks almost hurt, the wood elf nodded.

The redhead's mouth fell open; shock written all over her face before she squealed, jumped at Alana, and gave her the biggest hug she'd ever received.

"That's amazing you two!" She said while doing her best imitation of a boa constrictor. Alana hugged her back while sending a telepathic plea for help to her husband.

"Um Rachel, she will need to breathe." He said.

"Right." The redhead stepped back to look at the brunette. "You're glowing."

"Am I?" She felt slightly sheepish, but was happy for the attention nevertheless.

"You are." Rachel said, then the expression of joy on her face faltered. "You're glowing so much that I hate to ruin it with the practical matters at hand."

"Hailey." Ethan said.

"Right." Alana pulled herself back to the present. "What are we going to do?"

"I can think of a few ideas, but--" Rachel was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in." Ethan said.

The door opened and Luminar Kossel entered followed by a woman with jet-black hair that she didn't recognize. The moment Ethan saw her, placed himself between his wife and the woman, bared his teeth, and growled.

"Peace beast; I won't harm you... today." The raven-haired woman said with a wicked smile.

*That's the bitch who shot me.* Ethan explained

Alana suddenly wished she had her bow and arrow. The woman was neither tall nor short, thin nor muscular, pretty nor plain; she just 'was'. She was the kind of person you would see in a crowd and completely forget moments later. Her jet-black hair was tied back in a ponytail and her skin was heavily tanned, but not in a bad way.

"Relax my friends." Luminar Kossel said. "This is Kendra and she won't harm you here."

Kendra shot the Luminar a look that reminded Alana of the dirty looks Raklan gave Serif right after being put in his place.

The resemblance was uncanny.

"And you won't hurt her either." Luminar Kossel added as Ethan took a threatening step forward.

"What do you want?" The dragon growled at her.

"I only want to help." Kendra said with such insincerity that a two-year-old wouldn't have believed her. "Your slave murdered the son of Magistrate Haglath, who is understandably..." She paused for effect. "...Upset. He's impounded your vessel and everything on it."

By the way she emphasized 'everything' to Ethan, Alana knew she meant the gold. He stiffened visibly and she could feel his dragon side rising in anger. It was controlled, but gaining in strength.

"You can either pay the fine -- which will doubtless cost every gold piece you own -- or there's another option."

"Which is?" Rachel asked, skepticism written all over her face and tone.

"Magistrate Haglath was feeling generous this morning. He will allow trial by combat in The Arena to free your slave, and will even allow you to fight in her place."

"That's... unusual." Rachel commented.

Alana wasn't sure, but it almost felt like the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees.

"He had a good idea." Kendra said with a smug smile.

"But who would Ethan be fighting?" Alana asked. "The champion is dead."

"It could be anyone." Kendra replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. "If you refuse, your slave will be executed at dawn and your ship and everything on it will be sold to pay the cost of your fine. Think about it beast. Oh, and there's a reward for victory this time."

"Oh?" Ethan said.

"Yes." Kendra said with a sly smile. She started backing out of the room with a cat-that-ate-the-canary grin, like a salesman who knew he'd already made the sale and was just waiting for the customer to realize it.

"What's the reward?" He asked.

"It's gold, dragon." She almost whispered for effect as she backed completely out of the room, smiling even wider. "Lots, and lots of gold..." She disappeared around the corner and was gone.

One look at Ethan's emotions told Alana that he was caught hook, line, and sinker. The risk of losing his gold, plus the prospect of making a whole lot more was absolutely perfect bait. Whoever Kendra was, she knew exactly how to manipulate a dragon.

Alana considered him fighting in The Arena and a rush of emotions assaulted her.

She feared for his safety of course, but it was so much more than that now. The stakes were so much higher now. She placed her hand over her womb. What if he died? Would their baby be left fatherless?

She had loved her stepfather dearly. However, she had never been able to communicate the sense of loss she felt that she had never met her real father. She didn't want her baby to suffer that pain. If Ethan fought in The Arena and was killed...

*I can take them.* Ethan thought to her, though it felt more like the dragon than her husband.

*I hope so because if you can't.* She rubbed her stomach slightly. *I don't want our baby to grow up without a father.*

"Guys, can you please have the conversation aloud?" Rachel asked.

"I can take them." Ethan announced confidently.

"Ah, the arrogance of youth." Luminar Kossel sighed. "Kendra has a necklace made from the teeth of dragons she has killed. You aren't the first dragon to underestimate her, nor do I expect you'll be the last."

"A necklace made from--" Rachel began.

"--dragon's teeth?" Alana felt her heart sink to somewhere around her ankles. Ethan was a decent fighter, but nowhere near good enough to fight a true dragon hunter; not if the stories were true.

"Ethan, you can't." she pleaded.

He looked conflicted, and his emotions were no less conflicted.

"My dear dragon." Luminar Kossel said. "I've rarely seen a more gifted or skilled dragon hunter than Kendra in my long life. Going up against her without an ace up your sleeve is suicide."

Alana almost asked what having an 'ace up your sleeve' meant because she'd never heard that expression before, but decided against it. On balance, she might've heard Ethan use that expression once, but wasn't sure.

Her husband seemed to deflate slightly, and the dragon's influence over him seemed to wane. It appeared that the instinct for self-preservation occasionally overrode the lust for power, even in a dragon.

Alana felt herself relax

He wasn't going to fight; he would be okay. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. There was of course the question of how they would go anywhere without the Argo. However, she would rather worry about that than what to do if her husband died.

"What about Hailey?" Ethan said after several seconds of silence. "Didn't Kendra say she would be executed at dawn if I didn't fight?"

Alana swore.

She knew -- she knew in her bones -- that Ethan would never abandon Hailey. Despite the former slave putting them in this position, she just knew there was no way he would abandon her. If she was honest with herself, the wood elf couldn't imagine abandoning her either, despite all the problems she had caused.

She looked at Ethan who was staring into space, looking a bit above his hand and flexing it as if he was holding something.

He made a thoughtful noise, then said almost absent-mindedly: "Whosoever shall hold this hammer..."

He trailed off with a pensive sound, then their bond lit up with excitement. His mood seemed to stand in stark contrast to everyone else in the room and she had no idea where his newfound high spirits came from.

He turned to her grinning widely. "I have an idea."

* * *

Beth followed Gabriella through the streets of Arcanum, growing ever more tired of the endless shades of purple that permeated everything here. Well, everything except Gabriella who shone like a beacon of white light in a sea of purple. A very tiring sea of purple. The teen was tempted to just watch Gabriella for a change of color but didn't think that quite appropriate.

They walked for some time before a looming oval structure and its distinct arched columns directly in front of them gave her an indication. "Are we going back to The Arena?"

"We are." The other woman replied without breaking stride. "There's a short piece of a spear shaft that needs planting in the sand before the battle tomorrow morning."

"Huh?" Beth shook her head. "What will that do?"

"You'll find out in a week or two." Gabriella replied.

Beth rolled her eyes; why was she always so tight lipped?

"Because if I told you everything that's coming it would rob you of the joys of discovery." Gabriella said, seemingly replying to the teen's thoughts.

"That's not fair! You won't tell me anything and yet you're reading my mind?"

Gabriella stopped and turned to look at Beth with an amused expression. Something about her demeanor and smile made it almost impossible to stay mad at her.

"Beth, I didn't read your mind."

"Then how did you respond to my thoughts?"

"My Lord knows what you're thinking, I merely spoke as He instructed me to speak. I have no more idea of what you're thinking than you have of what I'm thinking."

The teenager shook her head again and resisted the temptation to roll her eyes. "Whatever; lead on."

They walked through the walls to The Arena, through several rooms on the periphery of the structure, and finally onto The Arena's floor itself. The large oval fighting area hadn't changed. It was still a large slab of compacted sand surrounded by magnificent stone walls.

They walked to one end, where Gabriella stopped and looked around on the ground. "I know it's here somewhere... ah, there it is." The luminous woman reached down and pulled a short piece of a wood from the sand. It was about a foot long and looked like it had once been part of a spear shaft.

"Now, we need to bury this in the sand." Gabriella said.

Beth groaned as she realized how long it would take her to move enough sand to bury the stick. Given her experience with the book, she expected it would take a few days.

"Don't worry, I'll help you." Gabriella said. She walked over to what seemed to be a very specific spot in The Arena before stopping. "We'll bury it here, with only an inch sticking above the sand."

"Hmm." Beth mused as a thought struck her. "What would happen if I didn't help?" She then added hastily. "I'm going to, I'm just curious."

"There would be..." The luminous woman paused, possibly for effect. "...grave consequences. But that is always your decision. My Lord would prefer that you help, but you are always free to ignore Him. Just know that disobedience always has consequences."

"Always?" The blonde teen asked.

"Always." She nodded.

"Okay, well I'm definitely going to help." Beth said resolutely.

"Good. Now, we need to start digging right..." She paused and cocked her head to one side as if listening to something Beth couldn't hear. "...here." She indicated a spot in the sand, and they got to work.

Beth did her very best to help, but really couldn't move very much sand with just two fingers. If she used any more, she would lose concentration and her fingers would pass right through the sand she was trying to move.

Gabriella on the other hand was far more efficient. After using the stick to break up the slightly compacted sand on the top, she used both hands to pull large amounts of sand out quickly. After only a few minutes, they had a hole almost as deep as the bit of spear shaft was tall.

Gabriella placed the stick in the hole, then turned to Beth. "Now, I need you to put a finger on top of this to keep it in place while I fill in the hole."

"But what happens when I lose concentration and it falls?"

"Then we'll fix it and try again." The luminous woman said kindly. "Don't worry; it's more important that the stick ends up on the right place than that it gets there quickly."

Beth cocked her head to one side. "You're talking about more than just this stick, aren't you?"

Gabriella gave her a mischievous smile and then nodded towards the top of the stick, which she was holding in the center of the hole. Beth screwed up her concentration to make the tip of one finger solid, then rested it on the top of the stick. Immediately, Gabriella started pushing the sand they'd excavated back into the hole.

Beth was able to keep her one fingertip solid for several seconds, which was long enough that when she lost concentration, the stick stayed roughly in place.

Gabriella adjusted its position slightly. "Hold it for just a moment longer, and then we'll be nearly done."

Beth took a deep breath, concentrated on making her finger solid, and then touched the top of the stick again to hold it in place. The other woman pushed most of the rest of the sand into the hole by the time Beth lost her concentration.

"Perfect." Gabriella said, then stood up and started tamping the earth down with her foot. After a minute, the earth looked just as it had before, except for the small bit of spear shaft that poked up about an inch. She then brushed some sand around where it stuck up so it was easy to miss.

"And we're done." Gabriella said with a smile.

"That's it?"

"That's it." She confirmed. "Now, we have just one more stop before I must leave you."

"Where are you going?"

"Ah young one. No one is ever told someone else's story. I've enjoyed spending time with you immensely. I've met many of Illuminar's daughters in my travels and you are truly among the most delightful of them."

"Thank you." Beth smiled and blushed slightly. She had always liked the title of "Illuminar's daughter" for women who followed Him. The Book of Light used it and she found it comforting for some reason.

"There's one last thing before we take our last trip together." Gabriella said. "I asked my Lord if I could share something with you."

"You did?" Beth's mouth fell open at the incredibly tight-lipped woman actually going out of her way to volunteer information.

"I did and He said I could." She nodded. "I thought you might like to know why you could barely feel Ethan's emotions, even after being bonded to him for two weeks, while Alana could after less than a week."

Beth felt her heart soar, then a lump form in her throat. What if the problem was her? What if it was something she'd done, or hadn't done?

"Can you think of anything you've seen lately that might explain it?" Gabriella hinted. "Something powerful enough to interfere with a dragon's bond?"

"Oh!" Beth said as it hit her; why hadn't she thought of that before! "Was it the curse? That dark halo that we got rid of?"

"Well done." Gabriella beamed. "It couldn't break your bond, but it did dramatically slow down how quickly it strengthened."

The human teen breathed a sigh of relief. "So, I'll be able to bond properly with Ethan when I'm alive again?"

"You will and it will be wonderful. The bond isn't fully finalized until the bonded couple shares a bed, and the curse interfered with that final bonding moment between you two. Next time, you'll not only have the physical pleasure, but you'll also fully and truly bond to your husband."

"Really?"

She nodded. "Yes, and it will be like nothing you've ever felt. But for now, it's time to go. There's one last place you need to be."

"Will I see Ethan there?" Beth asked.

Gabriella smiled, but didn't answer her question. "Come, we have one last trip together."