A Dragon's Tale Ch. 57

Rachel's red -- almost maroon -- dress was just as stunning as the previous version. It had cap sleeves and the neckline was similar to Alana's scooped neck, but instead it had two angles on each side; one nearly vertical that angled inwards and the other mostly horizontal that arced over her generous and shapely breasts. The dress broke roughly at her knees, again similar to Alana's dress. Honestly, Rachel and Alana's dresses looked similar enough that they almost looked like a matched set.

He guessed that wasn't accidental.

Kendra's purple dress was completely unchanged. It still had a high neckline with long sleeves and a nearly floor-length skirt portion, both of which looked pleated. He knew that when she activated the dress, the slightly billowy sleeves and the skirt portion would self-summon so the dress became more like pants and a shirt than a dress. It was perfect for his tactically-minded wife.

A few things stood out though.

With the exception of Kendra, all the dresses appeared to have extra fabric in the arm/sleeve area that hadn't been there before. Also curious was that all of them appeared to have tight-ish cloth bracelets on both wrists that matched the color of the dress and also had a small strap that went over the thumb. Even more curious was that they all appeared to be wearing cloth ankle bracelets that appeared to have a strap that went into their shoes. Those style elements seemed to tie all of the dresses together, quite different though they were. That in turn made the ladies look like they belonged together as a unit.

He liked that.

Reinforcing that impression, each woman was also wearing a sash across her chest that he knew to be the cut-resistant cloth shields that Selene had invented.

Selene...

For a moment, he indulged in an idle fantasy that Selene was there too, wearing a dress not unlike his wives' own dresses but in a style all her own. He imagined that she was every bit his wife just like Alana, Beth, Taloni, Rachel, and Kendra were. He liked that image.

Then it faded.

She didn't want that; she didn't want to marry him. She had made her choice and he was going to respect it. He wasn't happy about it, but he was going to respect it. Another image climbed into his mind, one of Myla, or Victoria, or the wood elven king's ward whose name he still didn't know. Somehow, he could picture any one of them standing where Selene had stood just moments ago. He wasn't nearly as happy about that as he had been to imagine Selene, but for some reason, the latter three women seemed to fit in a way that Selene just didn't.

Not anymore.

His smile faltered.

*We miss Selene too.* Alana thought to everyone, darn near reading his mind.

*How could you tell?* He replied.

*We can all tell because we feel the same.* Beth volunteered.

*Master, we all talked about designing a dress for her and it didn't feel right to any of us.* Taloni added.

*Because she made her choice, even if we don't like it.* Rachel explained.

*She could still change her mind.* Kendra pointed out after a moment.

*Do you really think she will?* He asked.

No one answered.

There was a long moment of silence before Ethan decided to focus on the positive and spoke aloud. "You ladies are beautiful."

They smiled in return.

"And well-protected too." Alana added. "Ladies, on the count of three. One... Two.... Three."

Kendra's dress switched to its 'fighting mode', but the other dresses changed as well. From the underside, something like loose pants came down and met their cloth ankle bracelets, completely covering their legs in cut-resistant fabric. Likewise, the same thing happened with their arms. Folded or concealed cloth on each of the ladies' dresses came out to meet the cloth bracelets, covering each woman's arm in cut-resistant fabric as well. Those with necklines had additional fabric bridge the gap to cover the exposed skin there as well. Once activated, all his wives were covered nearly head to toe in cut-resistant fabric, with only feet, hands, neck, and faces excepted.

"Wow." He whistled. "Holy crap that's some impressive design work."

"It was mostly Alana and Rachel." Beth said with a sly grin. "They make a great team."

"They do." He agreed.

The couple got a bit of pink in their cheeks.

"I'm really proud of you two." Ethan said to them without teasing. "Seriously, what you've done here is incredible and I'll feel so much better knowing that you ladies are walking around fully protected."

"Thank you." They said at the exact same moment, then they glanced at each other at the same moment, then they both got a slightly embarrassed smile on their faces.

He chuckled, then went back to looking at the dresses. "I assume there's some enchanted leather in the bracelets and ankle bracelets?"

"They're cloth wrapped around enchanted leather." Alana nodded. "I also hid some enchanted leather in various other places on the sleeves which are enchanted to attract each other once activated, which is what makes it work."

"Makes sense." He nodded slowly. "Damn, that's pretty amazing."

"Thank you." She smiled back at him. "I had a feeling that since we're arriving at Dotmier today, I should really make a push to get them finished."

"Any particular reason?"

"Not really." The wood elf hesitated. "I just had a feeling."

He frowned. "Like, a hunch? Or are we talking about the kind of feeling that Taloni sometimes gets?"

"I might have suggested it too Master." The Fey teen said. Her wings fluttered a bit.

"Well, that's not ominous at all." He grimaced.

* * *

Fiona finished writing separate letters to her family and Sarah, then handed them to the waiting Narlotten errand boy. "Here you go."

"I will deliver them, Lady Fiona." The boy gave her a respectful head bow and then left the room.

It was quite a room.

Frankly, it was far too grand a room for her. It was tasteful, but there was no doubt that it was designed to impress visiting dignitaries and kings. There was too much purple, gold, and silver for her tastes. It was grand, but felt almost sterile.

"It's only temporary." Nurse Belcosta pointed out. She was holding Conner who seemed entirely content with the nurse as long as Fiona was in view. When the boy's mother wasn't, he tended to fuss.

"I'm knowing that, I just hope the Lord Delmar isn't keeping his room like this."

"No one knows." The nurse said and she gently rocked Conner.

"Really?"

"Not a single person besides Lord Delmar has been in his room since Lady Helene died." The nurse said. "He won't let anyone enter."

"Is anyone knowing why?" Fiona asked.

The nurse shook her head. "Everything in the room is self-cleaning so it's not necessary, but it is odd. He doesn't have anyone stock the fire in the winter, or put away his clothes, or anything like that. He simply doesn't allow anyone inside for any reason. He even put a summoning lock on the door."

Fiona thought that was strange. Summoning locks worked by having an enchanted piece of leather or wood that unhooked the latch. The person would put a drop of deep mana into the leather so only he could summon it, and doing so would open the door. Since no one else could summon it, it was impossible for anyone else to open the door. On balance, perhaps that made sense. Perhaps it was the one place where he could be himself without his disguise enchantment?

There was a knock on the door.

"You can be coming in." Fiona said.

The door opened and a woman in a ridiculously elaborate and extravagant dress entered, followed by half a dozen people carrying various fabrics and other sewing supplies. Fiona felt her heart sink slightly. If this was the seamstress, they probably wouldn't be seeing eye-to-eye on a dress.

* * *

"Drago?"

Ethan had just slung the grenade satchel over his head and shoulder when Kendra called his name and he looked at her. "What's up?"

"Elder Goman replied to my earlier letter about the travel swords." The dragon huntress replied. "Graflex said he can make them and will take some scales in payment, so I passed enough scales through the portal for him to start."

"Perfect, thanks." He gave her a thumbs up and then double-checked that he had everything he might need for a fight. He was hoping he wouldn't need the preparations, but with Taloni and Alana having a hunch, he figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

About fifteen minutes later, Ethan triple-checked to make sure he had all of his armor and weapons on him as Taloni expertly brought the Argo into the airship dock at Dotmier. It had begun to drizzle and so everything was a little wet, but neither he nor his wives minded very much with their self-cleaning -- and thus water-resistant -- clothes and armor.

"I don't see anything unusual." Alana said from beside him at the bow of the ship.

"Well, then let's hope we all have over-active imaginations." He replied.

"Wait, is that Matthew?" The woof elf said.

Ethan looked down to see the apprentice luminar sprinting towards the dock where the Argo was finishing landing. Serif and Raklan were tying the ship to the bollards and would lower the gangplank shortly.

"That doesn't look good." He looked at Alana and grimaced. "He must've been watching to see when we arrived if he's in such a hurry."

*Matthew is sprinting towards the Argo.* The wood elf thought to everyone.

They all hurriedly congregated at the gangplank, which had only just dropped as Matthew arrived. The young man slid on the dock's slightly wet wood and had to scramble to keep from falling. He ran across the Argo's gangplank and onto the ship, stopping only then to catch his breath.

"L... La..." He said as he panted, hands on his knees as he bent over, clearly trying to catch his breath.

"Take a deep breath." Ethan instructed as their guests also congregated by the gangplank.

Matthew did indeed take a couple of deep breaths, then stood. "Lady... Ekthros... was.... here..." He panted.

Ethan's jaw dropped as a couple of the onlookers sucked in their breath.

"When?" Ethan asked once the shock wore off.

"It was... she left this morning." Matthew panted. "She said... that she was here... to investigate the orc..." He yawned despite not looking tired. "...the orc situation. I think she lied. I think she was here... looking for you and your wives."

"Are you okay?" Alana asked, beating him to the punch.

"What about Arven, Ketura, and Yalia?" Beth asked fearfully.

"They're all fine, thank Illuminar." Matthew said as he started to breathe more normally. "Arven sent me to get Lord Kalus's wives because they have bodyguards."

"Clever." Ethan mused. "Plus, there's no way she would try something with Shara and Lyra around."

"I wouldn't wager on that." Rachel said darkly.

Ethan and his wives exchanged significant looks.

"She's telepathic." Rachel grimaced. "There's no telling how much she knows now."

"Don't worry." Matthew said, still obviously recovering his breath but at least speaking normally. "Arven is a Reeve so he knows how to shield his mind. He taught Ketura and Yalia, and Yalia taught me."

"Silver lining." Ethan breathed a sigh of relief. "Though, pretty much the whole town knew we were here and I doubt they have mental defenses, so it's a good bet that she knows as well."

"But there's more." Matthew continued. "Lady Ekthros came here with only one bodyguard. I don't know who he was, but something about him wasn't right."

"How?" Ethan asked, having a sinking feeling that he knew what and why.

"I'm not sure, but the way he looked at everyone." Matthew shook his head. "It was like... like." He seemed to struggle for words.

"Like he wanted them to die in the slowest, most excruciatingly painful way possible?" Ethan suggested as the sinking feeling worsened. Now that he wasn't so focused on Matthew, he noticed a familiar sensation that was quickly growing stronger; a sensation that was making his dragon side want to flee.

"Something like that." Matthew nodded with a grimace.

Ethan swallowed.

Hard.

"Tee, get us out of here. Now." Ethan said.

"Yes Master." She said as her face went pale. She turned and flew towards the quarterdeck, her wings a blur.

"Serif, Raklan, get the Argo free of the dock." Ethan ordered.

"Leaving so soon?" A voice came from the dock.

The scales on the back of Ethan's neck stood up. His heart seemed to freeze in his chest as his dragon instincts started screaming for him to run.

He didn't.

He turned to see exactly what he expected to see.

It was him.

The demon-possessed man that Ethan himself had only barely escaped from just over a week ago was standing there, somehow looking both smug and murderous at the same time. There was no possible way they could leave before he could get on the airship and Ethan couldn't run this time because his family was here.

He couldn't think of an expletive strong enough to capture his reaction to that.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Note: This chapter began on day 104 of Ethan's life in the Ten Kingdoms and ended on day 105. I submit new chapters on the last Wednesday of every month, and they usually drop after the 2-3 days review process. Thus I'll submit the next chapter on May 29th, and it'll probably drop on May 31st or June 1st.

I'd like to extend a very special thanks to two of my patrons, one of whom didn't want to be credited by name. So "Anonymous" and Joseph: thank you so much for your support. I really appreciate it.

STORY TAGS: dragon, magic, elf, teen, romance, virgin, harem, blonde, brunette, redhead