A Dragon's Tale Ch. 57

Chapter 57: Diabolus Ex Machina

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

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Ethan yawned as he led his wives into the captain's cabin after bidding everyone good night. With Victoria and her parents Harold and Carla plus Myla, there were rather more people on the Argo than usual. Once the door was closed behind him, his wives started casually shucking their dresses as they chatted about random things. He leaned against the doorframe and watched, a smile on his face as he saw them all getting along perfectly and being perfectly comfortable with each other.

They climbed onto the bed once they were naked, still chatting away like old friends. Rachel wasn't naked of course, but even she had reached to undo the wrap supporting her breasts before catching herself and stopping.

He smiled wider at that.

"Dominus?" Beth looked at him quizzically.

"You all are wonderful." He smiled, looking at all of them and ending with a somewhat pointed look at Kendra.

She frowned slightly and then made an adorable face where it looked like she was trying to frown, but the edge of a smile played around her lips anyway.

His wives all sighed.

That was about when he heard a soft scratching at the captain's cabin door.

"Thor?" Alana guessed.

The ladies all moved so they wouldn't be exposed if Ethan opened the door a crack. Once they had moved, he did and the little kitten darted into the room and Ethan closed the door behind him. Thor immediately ran to the bed and then sat down and let out a loud, squeaky meow.

"Come here." Kendra said as she picked him up and put him on the bed. He immediately ran to what looked like a specific spot and started sniffing, then flopped down and let out a mournful meow.

"That's where Selene slept those two nights that she slept in here." Beth said to Ethan.

"Sorry little kitty, she's not here." Ethan said.

Thor let out another mournful meow.

His wives looked around at each other.

"Someone please say something." Taloni asked with her eyes looking slightly watery.

"My Lord." Rachel spoke up. "We should talk about the battle with..." She looked at the door, outside of which their guests might be able to hear. "...with the black dragon."

"Good idea." Kendra gently petted Thor and then turned to face Ethan, her scars on display for all to see and yet she didn't seem bothered or self-conscious about them.

It was good to see.

"Yeah." He went to the bed and sat down so he could see everyone, then spoke in a low voice so as not to be overheard by those outside. "Let's start with the obvious. I think it's pretty certain that Lady Ekthros or Lord Delmar has people watching Sarah's inn."

"Agreed." Kendra nodded.

"That means we probably shouldn't go back, doesn't it?" Beth asked.

"We shouldn't do more than a quick visit like I did earlier today unless we want to fight Lord Delmar again." Kendra replied. "Anything longer would be the height of foolishness considering how the fight went. I have fought some dangerous dragons in my day, but he is Drago-level in power."

"Yeah." Ethan nodded. "I'm pretty certain he could've killed us all even with that arrow in his back." He looked at Alana. "Nice shot by the way."

"Thank you, and I agree about Lord Delmar." The wood elf said. "He wasn't Kyrupto, but I don't think we stood a chance even with him wounded."

"We didn't." Kendra said matter-of-factly. "And speaking of Kyrupto, I told Ethan this earlier, but you all should know that he's headed down south and almost certainly looking for Ethan." She then explained what the man at Sarah's inn had told her about the copper dragon.

"That's not good Master." Tee's wings fluttered.

"Understatement of the century." Ethan nodded. "But one thing at a time. Orcs first and then hopefully Selene will be able to deal with the portal and Gonorran, then we'll be free to focus on Kyrupto and the two lords trying to kill us. One impossible thing at a time."

His wives all nodded.

"My lord, what if we only had to fight Lord Farbrottan?" Rachel said quietly. "Maybe my father could be convinced that we're not... well, you know."

"Why don't you tell everyone what happened when he took you off the Argo?" Ethan suggested.

Rachel told everyone and then bit her lip. "What if he didn't put the will-breaker ring on me? What if Lady Ekthros tricked him into giving it to me and he didn't know? She did say that it was a kidnapping ring."

"Kidnapping ring?" Ethan asked.

"It's something that Lady Ekthros invented." The redhead explained. "The Ring is linked to a piece of leather cord attached to a heavy weight. When the ring is activated, the leather tries to fly to the ring but is prevented by the weight. However, the enchantment means that the leather cord is always pointing at the kidnapped person, making him or her easy to find."

"That's very clever." Alana nodded, then cocked her head to one side. "I could easily create something like that for all of us in case one of us is captured again, and maybe a collar for Thor as well."

"Good idea." Ethan gave her a thumbs up.

Rachel hesitated a moment before speaking again. "So, do you think that Lady Ekthros convinced him to give me the will breaker ring without him knowing what it was?"

"Perhaps." Kendra frowned. "But dragons seem quite attuned to demonic things; you think he would've sensed something."

"But Ethan didn't sense the curse on the cold cube." The redhead pointed out.

"But Kyrupto did." Kendra interjected.

"Only after it had been destroyed." Rachel replied.

"If I'm paying attention, I can tell now." Ethan said. "Maybe I just missed it before because I knew almost nothing about magic or curses?"

"Or maybe the curse disguises itself since you didn't sense it before the curse was destroyed." Rachel suggested. "That would make sense for a will-breaker ring too; I know they're hard to detect."

"Well, there's an easy way to check." Alana said, then got up from the bed and walked to the large desk in the opposite corner of the room. Ethan watched his naked wife with interest as she fished a key out of one of the top drawers, and especially when she bent over to unlock one of the small bottom drawers. She then pulled out a small ring that Ethan hadn't seen in months. The last time he had seen it, Alana had broken Rachel's finger to get it off of her. The redhead still had a black mark on her otherwise perfect fingers from where it had rested.

"You kept it?" He asked, his eyes widening.

"What was I supposed to do? Throw it over the side?" The wood elf replied apologetically. "I didn't know what else to do but lock it up and hide it away."

"Fair." He conceded

"I tried disenchanting it but couldn't." She continued. "I'm not sure any mage could without removing the curse on it; it was just too strongly fused to the ring."

He frowned. "I haven't noticed it once all these months."

"Here, I'll put it in your hand and you can see if you sense anything now." She said as she walked to him. "Just don't put it on."

He gave her a look and then accepted it as she dropped it into the palm of his hand. He closed his eyes and concentrated for almost a whole minute, trying to sense anything 'off' about the ring.

He couldn't.

"Yeah, I can't tell." He said finally. "But perhaps the curse was broken when the ring came off of Rachel's finger?"

"I can check Dominus." Beth volunteered. "It will probably show up on the Astral Plane."

"Do it." He gave her a thumbs up.

Beth laid down and closed her eyes. About ten seconds later she thought to everyone. *I can see the ring and it has a faint dark aura around it that looks like the demon I saw in Arcanum.*

*Thanks.* Ethan thought to everyone.

Several seconds later, Beth's eyes opened and she sat up. "It's subtle, but it's definitely there Dominus."

He tried to feel anything wrong or off about the ring again and couldn't. "Yeah, I can't tell that anything is off with it."

"I'll put it away." Alana offered.

He handed it to her and she locked it back in the desk drawer, returned to the bed, and then looked at Rachel. "Well, apparently it's possible that he didn't know."

Rachel's smile was ear-to-ear. "I knew it."

"Hey beautiful, I don't want you to get your hopes up too much." Ethan said gently. "Just because it's possible doesn't mean it happened. It might have, but we don't know. Try to be 'cautiously optimistic' instead of jumping to conclusions, okay?"

She nodded, her smile less radiant but not gone.

"Maybe we won't need to fight him then?" Beth suggested. "Maybe if we can convince him that you're innocent he'll stop trying to kill us?"

"You're forgetting the dreams that Ethan and I had." Kendra said. "We both saw Lord Delmar fighting Ethan on a battlefield somewhere. They were too similar to be coincidental; I think they were prophetic."

Rachel's smile faded.

"Sir, if we've learned one thing from what happened with Selene, it's that there's room for us to choose." Alana pointed out as she took Rachel's hand. "Maybe we can come up with some way to avoid that."

"We know Lord Delmar is a dragon." Kendra said. "He might be willing to call off his search if we threatened to make that knowledge public."

"Kendra!" Rachel said sharply.

The former Aldmiri shrugged, clearly unbothered by the redhead being upset. "You wanted to avoid a fight; that's one way to avoid a fight."

"I don't like that idea Master." Tee frowned.

"Me either." Beth agreed.

"It seems like a good way to make sure that he never seriously considers that we're innocent." Alana said. "That's blackmail, which is illegal. More importantly, it's wrong."

"I don't like it either." Ethan frowned. "It might work, and given how many times he's tried to kill us I think it might be justified, but still..." He shook his head slowly. "That seems like a slippery slope and I'm not inclined to try."

"And blackmail is wrong Master." Taloni said firmly.

"Is it always wrong?" Kendra countered. "If a judge constantly renders unlawful verdicts and you blackmail him to apply the law, is that wrong? If an evildoer is escaping the law's notice, is wrong to blackmail him to behave morally?"

Tee looked at her for a long moment and then spoke like she was quoting something. "Do not be mislead, for there are some who say 'let us do evil that good might result'. As I live, says Illuminar, you shall not do such a thing to profane my name with your detestable deeds."

"I've never heard that verse before." Kendra frowned.

"Given what you've said the Aldmiri do, I'm not surprised." Rachel pointed out.

The former Aldmiri inclined her head in concession, a thoughtful frown on her face. "Still, I guess that I had always thought..." She trailed off, her thoughtful frown deepening.

"Kendra, two wrongs don't make a right." Tee said with the same certainty that someone might use when asserting that the sun would rise in the morning.

"I'm inclined to agree." Ethan said. "Besides, the attempt would certainly convince him that we're the bad guys and it could backfire on us."

"How could it backfire?" Beth asked.

"Well, right now he's constrained by the necessity to keep up public appearances." He explained. "If he was revealed to be a dragon -- assuming that people believed us -- it would free him to act with impunity because he wouldn't need to worry about his secret getting out."

"That's a good practical objection as well." Kendra nodded. "Speaking of practical, you said that you've been enchanting yourself to make yourself faster; did that help during the fight?"

"No, not really." He replied. "The trouble is I need to do almost every part of my body at once to make it effective. I think I did notice a difference, but it was very small. I'm thinking I might do something else, at least for a while."

"What?" Beth asked.

"Enchanting my skin and scales to be cut-resistant, but only where it's not covered by my armor." He replied. "The armor is strong enough to stop most attacks, but the gaps are a problem. I need to be able to move though, so I figure if I enchant the skin and scales underneath to be cut-resistant, that will help a lot against someone fast enough to target the gaps."

"I agree." Kendra said. "I would start with your neck and then your torso because they are the most vulnerable."

"Good idea." He nodded.

"I might also do the palm and fingers on your left hand." The former Aldmiri said.

"Why?"

"Half-swording." She replied.

Half-swording was when you grabbed your own blade with your off-hand to increase your control and leverage. Ethan hadn't yet dared to try it with his dragon steel sword because it was so obscenely sharp. However, it could be effective if both his skin and scales were cut-resistant.

"Good idea." He nodded.

"Sir, we should talk about it if you decide to increase your speed again." Alana said. "I didn't mention this before because I knew it would take a while for you to get fast enough, but enchantment-enhanced speed can put a lot of extra strain on your joints, so we should talk about enchanting your joints to take the extra strain before you get very far in enchanting yourself to be faster."

"I'll do that." He nodded. "Anything else?"

"Weapons." Kendra said. "You used your sword a lot and it wasn't very effective because he was too close most of the time. Your javelin in its dagger form has greater penetrative power and is shorter, so it's more suitable for those kinds of encounters." She paused. "Unless perhaps if your opponent was wielding a weapon. But against unarmed foes like Dragos and demon-possessed men, you might want to reach for your dagger first."

"Agreed. I did at the end, but should've sooner." Ethan replied. "Anything else?"

"Given what's happened lately, you might want to teach us all that 'CPR' thing you used on Kendra in the Arena." Rachel suggested.

"Good idea." Alana nodded and looked at Ethan. "Our lives are dangerous and you're the only one who knows how to do it. If something happens to one of us and you aren't there or are busy fighting someone, then whoever was hurt could be in serious trouble."

Ethan took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Good point. That just jumped straight to the top of the priority list. We'll do it tomorrow morning after breakfast."

"Master, you could also teach Myla and Victoria since you might marry them." Taloni suggested. "I think Anthiel would like to know as well, maybe even Serif and Raklan."

"That would leave only Victoria's parents out of the training." Rachel pointed out.

"Then I guess I might as well teach everyone." Ethan said. "Hell, that's one skill I would love to spread far and wide because it can save lives."

His wives beamed at him.

"Okay, CPR training tomorrow morning." He looked around at his wives. "Anything else?"

When no one spoke, Alana gave Rachel a gentle and subtle nudge.

"Now?" The redhead's eyes widened slightly as she looked at the brunette.

"Why not now?" The wood elf replied with a barely concealed smile.

"What are you talking about?" Beth asked.

"I'm a bit curious myself." Ethan added.

Rachel took a deep breath. "Um, I was talking with Alana earlier and... and there's something we want to show Ethan."

"Such as?" He asked.

The redhead bit her lip and looked at Alana, who spoke.

"It would be easier to just show you I think." She looked at Rachel. "Standing might be easier."

The redhead nodded and Alana led the way for the two of them to get off the bed and stand on the floor facing everyone. Rachel's cheeks and upper chest had started to turn a bit red and Alana looked like she was barely keeping herself calm.

"So, what are we going to see?" Ethan asked. He had a guess, but he certainly wasn't going to voice it in case doing so made Rachel more nervous.

"Um..." The redhead shifted from one foot to the other and glanced at Alana before speaking to everyone else. "Promise you won't laugh?"

"No, but I promise we won't make fun." Ethan replied.

His other wives agreed.

Rachel nodded slowly. After a moment she turned to face Alana, who had an ear-to-ear smile on her face.

"Ready?" The wood elf asked as she took one of Rachel's hands.

The redhead grimaced slightly, but she seemed to have trouble keeping that expression on her face while looking at the wood elf. In mere moments, she had actually started smiling and nodded her head fractionally. Alana stepped slightly closer and Rachel reciprocated. They were only a few inches apart so their six-inch height difference was quite apparent.

At the same time, both licked their lips slightly.

Ethan stifled a chuckle as his suspicion was confirmed.

After several long seconds of them standing there in obvious anticipation, Alana spoke. "Rachel."

"Yeah?"

"Kiss me."

The redhead leaned down, hesitated for barely a moment, and then gently pressed her lips to Alana's. They both made a soft sighing sound as the wood elf brought her arms up and put them around the taller redhead's neck while Rachel put her arms around Alana's torso.

It was quite possibly the most intimate kiss that Ethan had ever seen. He had been part of ones at least that intimate with his wives, but he'd never seen a kiss quite like this one as an observer. It was soft and gentle with notes of hesitation and nervousness, but it was also utterly open and genuine. There was not a single soul in all the universe that would doubt the affection these two had for each other.

The two women adjusted slightly and their lips moved softly on each other's as they both let out another tiny, almost imperceptible sigh before their lips parted. When they did, they weren't more than a millimeter apart and Rachel bridged that gap with her lips for a tiny follow-up kiss which made Alana smile.

Ethan grinned.

He clapped several times, beaming ear to ear. "That was marvelous and I'm so incredibly proud of you two, especially you Rachel."

Rachel went beet red.

Alana beamed and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"The only person who kisses me like that is Ethan." Beth said with wonder in her tone.

"I could try." Tee suggested.

The two blondes faced each other seriously, kept their serious expressions for maybe two seconds, and then dissolved into a fit of giggles.

"Can I say something odd?" Kendra asked.

"You've never needed permission before." Ethan teased.

"I want to kiss Selene, but not because I love her like Alana and Rachel love each other." The raven-haired woman said thoughtfully. "I just want her to know that I care."

Everyone stared at her for a moment.

"It's not like you to open up like that." Ethan pointed out.

"I know this might be hard to believe, but I often got in trouble with the Aldmiri because I wore my heart on my sleeve."

Stunned silence.

"Really?" Ethan asked after a moment.

She nodded. "I don't think I'll ever be like that again, at least not publicly, but I'm trying to be more open with..." She smiled. "...with my family."

Taloni gave her an impromptu hug.

"I'm proud of you Kendra." Ethan beamed. "A bit confused about your comment, but proud."

"I do want to." Kendra said quietly.

"Even after she lied to you?" Alana asked, her arms still around Rachel and the redhead's arms still around her.

"I said it was strange." Kendra nodded.

"I think Selene knows how much you care." Ethan pointed out to her. He had never noticed even a hint of romantic attraction between Kendra and Selene, but they certainly seemed to enjoy each others' company.

"I hope so." Kendra said quietly.

"She does." Rachel said. "She cares about the rest of us, but she really cares about you."

Beth huffed. "I miss Selene and her birthday fits the pattern; why can't she just stop being so stubborn and come back to marry Ethan?"