A Dragon’s Tale Chapter 13.c

Beth hovered in mid-air, again suspended between the tendril and the gentle pull of Illuminar's light.  It looked like the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon as night approached.  Of course, everything was bathed in purple on the Astral Plane, which added even more monotony to her situation.

It had been a long, boring day. 

"Ah, finally done!"  The wizard exclaimed as he stood up and looked down at Beth's immobile body.

To her surprise, the wound on her neck was completely healed.  There was still blood all around where the wound had been so you could clearly tell that her throat had previously been slit, but now it was healed. 

"Finally, I can begin the enhancements tomorrow and summon that--" the wizard stopped, then looked around as if expecting to see the shadowy figure return.  He shook his head after a moment, and then turned and left the room. 

No sooner had he gone, then Beth heard a kind and gentle voice behind her.

"Hello Beth."  Gabriella said. 

Beth turned as best she could in mid-air to see the luminous woman standing before her.  As ever, she looked like a beautiful teen in the prime of life, yet also had the demeanor of a wise old sage.  Her smile instantly made Beth feel better.

"Thank you for coming back, please don't leave me again."

Gabriella smiled.  "My dear girl, I can stay only a minute."

Her face fell.  "No, please don't leave me again.  You don't know what happened, what that thing made me...  I mean, what I..." 

Gabriella raised an eyebrow.  "Beth, what did I tell you?"

"Um, that Illuminar would keep me safe?"

"The enemy traffics in lies and deception.  Illuminar -- blessed be He -- traffics in truth and revelation.  One of the enemy's greatest weapons is to make the faithful doubt the promises of God."

Beth breathed a sigh of relief.  "You mean, I didn't ruin everything." 

Gabriella chuckled. "No my dear, you're simply not that powerful.  You've passed your last trial on this plane and it's time for you to go home." 

Beth's eyes widened and she looked up towards the light in the sky.  "You don't mean I'm going to..." 

Gabriella laughed.  The sound shattered all of Beth's doubts and brightened the room considerably.  "No my dear, you're not going to die.  I mean you're going home." 

"But, Gralden is so far away." 

"My dear girl, Gralden is no longer your home."  With that, Gabriella looked up to the heavens, concentrated for a moment, and then Beth felt the pull of the light weaken. 

"Draw your sword, cut the tendril."  The luminous woman instructed. 

Beth complied, surprised to find that Aharown was now visible and touchable at her side once again.  She wasted no time drawing it, aiming a careful slice, and neatly severing the tendril.

As before, a horrible piercing wail filled her ears.  Startled, she dropped Aharown as Gabriella pulled her away from the tendril so she wouldn't fall onto it.  The flat of the gleaming sword landed on the tendril and seemed to burn through it like hot iron through a sheet of ice.  The tendril's dying wail continued as Beth clamped her hands over her ears to block out the noise.

It didn't help.

Eventually, Aharown 'melted' through the tendril's base, which began to evaporate, like boiling water out of a pan.  Nearly a minute later, the piercing wailing finally stopped as the last of the tendril disappeared like smoke in the breeze.  It was completely gone, and Beth got the distinct impression it would never return.

Once the sound faded, Beth retrieved Aharown.  It looked as clean and pristine as ever, the black tendril having made no mark whatsoever on its pure, gleaming blade.

"Now, you need to stay here for a little while longer."  Gabriella indicated the room around her.

"Why?"

She shook her head with a grin.  "Always with the questions young one.  He does love that about you." 

"You didn't answer the question." 

"No, I didn't."  Gabriella replied.  "You simply need to trust me and the One that I serve.  Have I led you wrong yet?" 

"No."

"Then stay here until it's time to leave." 

"How will I know it's time?" Beth asked. 

"You'll know."  Gabriella turned to leave, but paused a moment.  "One last thing, remember how hard it was to move the pages of the book and the sand in The Arena?"

"Yes."

"You'll find it equally hard to grab other things, except your own body.  Because it's yours, it won't be hard to grab it at all.  You won't be able to move it, but you can grab it.  When the time comes, hold on tight." 

"Hold on tight?"  The blonde teen was so confused.  "What does that mean?"

"You'll see."  Gabriella replied as she started walking toward the door but stopped just before leaving.  "The Saidow spawn refused to use your real name.  Let me remind you who you are...  Elizabeth Ejder"

Beth smiled as she recognized Ethan's last name attached to her first name.  It sounded good.  For some reason, she really liked that she had taken Ethan's last name as her own.  It made her feel connected to him somehow.

"May the God of Light bless you richly and guide you on the Path of Light as you travel."  Gabriella said.  "We will meet again." 

Then she was gone. 

Beth looked around the room and decided that just this once, she could trust without asking questions.  It wouldn't do much good anyway as she was already alone.  And what in Illuminar's name did Gabriella mean that she would know when to leave?

* * *

Kendra knew two things.  First, thanks to Luminar Kossel, she knew the dragon's airship was headed to a gold mine north of Arcanum.  Second, she knew it had traveled west when it left Arcanum, meaning they were trying to throw off pursuers.  Thankfully, that made their intended flight path relatively easy to guess. 

She'd left Arcanum in a hurry, stopping only to retrieve Falkaan's Dragon Slayer, which he was still letting her borrow.  Years of experience and a little guesswork allowed her to put her tiny airship about where she thought they would be at nightfall.

She was right. 

She grinned as she put away her spyglass.  There was no mistaking it; that was the dragon's airship.  The light was fading fast, but thanks to her enchanted spyglass she could see reasonably well anyway.   She extrapolated their course and set her ship on a parallel one.  She was pleased to see that Luminar Kossel had been right about their destination being a gold mine.  She could only imagine that the dragon was planning to steal from the mine because it was a dragon after all.

Then she saw something.

It was so subtle and far away that she almost missed it.  She pulled out her spyglass and saw that the dragon had leapt off the airship and was flying towards Arcanum, apparently while carrying someone on its back.  It steadily climbed until it was extremely high in the sky; exactly what she would do if she was trying to avoid detection at night. 

She briefly considered trying to follow it, but then realized it was moving much faster than her airship could fly.  Besides, she'd sworn not to attack it until dawn in a day and a half.  That left her wondering...

What was the beast up to?

* * *

*I think it was right there.*  Alana pointed to an alley that looked like the same one where Beth had died.  She wasn't sure, but it looked right.

*Yeah, that looks right,* Ethan replied and then started circling the area. 

They were high above the city, relying on the great distance to keep them safe and their superior vision to see.  The whole city was spread out underneath them.  Small lanterns lit most of the populated areas and they could see the ebb and flow of foot traffic as the citizens finished up their business for the day. 

The wood elf couldn't help but smile as she looked through the gossamer outline Ethan's disguise gem projected.  Just before they'd reached Arcanum, he had disguised himself to look like some kind of giant eagle with white feathers covering its head, which made it look bald.  The faint outline of fake feathers made an interesting contrast to the scales and membrane which were real. 

*I'm about to dive, get ready.*  He warned. 

Taking care not to choke him, she wrapped herself even more tightly around him, screwed her eyes shut, and then tapped his chest to show she was ready. 

He dived. 

She could feel the wind rushing past her face and she clenched her eyes tighter still.  Suddenly, he shifted and she felt his enormous wings flap hard to slow their descent. There was a moment of intense gravity followed by near weightlessness, then they dropped several feet to land. 

"You can open your eyes now."  He chuckled. 

She did and saw they were on a rooftop adjacent to the alley.  She slid off his back, taking a moment to thank Illuminar for being on solid ground again.  She trusted Ethan and even liked the flying, but she was glad to be safe on terra firma again regardless. 

"So, what are we looking for?"  She asked, noticing he'd changed his disguise gem so he looked like a man again.

"I wish I knew.  I just feel like there's something here; something I missed." 

He looked around the rooftop as if trying to see something that was hidden.  They spent a few minutes looking into the alley and around the rooftop.  Then he looked at her like he was seeing her with new eyes. 

"What?"  She asked. 

"You're incredible you know that?" 

"Really?"  She felt a warmth in her chest that belied the coolness of the night air. 

"Absolutely.  I mean, I'm running off into the lion's den on a weird hunch and you're right here with me.  You didn't belittle me or fight me on it either, you just supported me.  I can't even tell you how much that means." 

She felt like she could've flown back to the Argo with him on her back and her smile was wider than the rooftop.  "Thank you." 

He walked up to her and gave her a kiss that made her simply melt in his arms.  When their kiss broke, she snuggled up against him.  She always felt so safe and happy in his arms.

"What's a 'lion's den'?"  She asked after a few moments.

"It's a...  Well, there's this story from...  from..."  He trailed off as he sniffed the air.

"What?"  She asked, stepping back and sniffing too.  She didn't smell anything, but then she didn't have a dragon's nose.

He frowned.  "There's a familiar scent on the air, almost like..." he sniffed again.  "It almost reminds me of Beth, but it's so faint.  Her scent wouldn't have lingered this long, would it?"

She shook her head. "I doubt it.  Besides, I think it rained a few days ago while we were up near Taloni's mine." 

"Then why...?"  He sniffed the air again and began hunting around the roof with his nose.  After a minute, he reached the edge of the roof overlooking the alley where Beth died. 

"I think it's coming from another building."  He scooped her into his arms -- which probably was easy because she was still wearing the weight-reduction necklace -- and then jumped over the alley, using his wings to glide the last several yards.  They spent the next several minutes hunting rooftops until he finally smiled. 

"I think it's coming from this building." 

"Well, let's see what's inside."  She replied. 

Five minutes later, they'd found their way down to street level and located a door to the inside.

The first floor was empty. 

Like, truly empty.

It looked like it had been abandoned years ago.  There was a thick layer of dust on everything, and she had to clean cobwebs out of her hair and off her dress more than once.  The only disturbance was a well-worn and obviously recent path through the dust leading to a rickety-looking staircase to the second floor.  Despite the look though, it was strong enough to hold them.  At least, it didn't collapse while they climbed it.

"Holy mother of Ithlan."  She breathed when they had opened the door at the top. 

The room was quite reminiscent of Elder Goman's laboratory.  There were several tables covered in strange-looking magical apparatuses, most of which she didn't recognize, nor had she heard of anything like them. 

"Beth."  Ethan whispered as shock and confusion flooded over their bond.  She followed his eyes to a large wooden crate. 

Beth's body was inside.

Her jaw dropped.

They both stood stunned and transfixed at the sight, neither moving nor speaking as nearly identical emotions washed over both of them.  Finally, after nearly a whole minute, he started forward and knelt by the crate.

She watched as he reached out a finger and gently brushed her cheek.  A painful smile appeared on his lips; hope mixed with sadness, and longing mixed with pain. 

He looked at her, confusion on his face as he asked: "What the hell is going on?"

* * *

Beth could hardly believe her eyes.  There, standing in front of her was Ethan; her husband.  A million questions raced around her head. What was he doing here?  How had he found her? Did he know she was still "alive"?  Did he come to get her?  Why was Alana here?

And why...?

Beth eyed the small, seamless braid on the wood elf's wrist.  It was an Elven engagement bracelet; she was sure of it.  Why would she be wearing that unless...  It took a moment for Beth to remember Gabriella's words right after she'd 'died' in the alley.  The angel predicted that Ethan would marry and bed Alana before eight days had passed. 

She knew they had. 

That meant that not only had Ethan married Alana, but he had also taken her to bed.  She couldn't decide how she felt about that.  The first emotion seemed so strange and foreign that she almost did a double take: she felt happy that they had shared a bed. 

She shook her head as that feeling was replaced with a mild sense of regret that she'd missed the spectacle.  That in turn was followed by embarrassment at the thought, which was followed by a mild sense of arousal at the thought of her mate claiming the beautiful wood elf. 

And she was beautiful. 

Beth found herself admiring her soft, silky chocolate-brown hair.  The elegant figure that was modestly -- though not completely -- hidden behind her signature green dress.  Her eyes lingered on the flare of her hips and the swell of her breasts.

But it was more than that. 

Alana was a truly beautiful person, not just physically but also her personality; her spirit.  She was kind, brave, and caring.  She was the kind of person you couldn't help but love.  Her smile was beautiful and genuine, and she was brave in a fight too.  She found herself getting mildly aroused thinking about the diminutive wood elf.

What was going on?

Beth thought about Ethan's other wives.  Somewhere deep inside of her, she just had this sense that he deserved both of them.  She remembered how he had so thoroughly pleasured her and she knew there was no way that she alone could ever fully satisfy such a powerful creature.  He was a dragon; of course the dragon would need more than one wife.

It just made sense. 

Thoughts of Ethan in bed with all three women -- herself included -- flitted through her mind.  She grew more than a little aroused thinking about being surrounded by so much naked skin and scale.  Then she imagined something that shocked her to her core.

She imagined kissing Taloni. 

The thought was so powerfully captivating that she stood in shock for several seconds.  She imagined the honey-blonde girl's soft, full lips pressing against hers.  She imagined the Fey's soft tongue playing at the entrance of her mouth. Then she imagined the winged girl's tongue in... other places.

If Beth could've died in embarrassment, she would have.  She suddenly felt the urge to hide behind one of the tables so no one could see her, even though no one could.  She tried to push the image out of her mind, but it seemed to have gotten stuck. 

It wasn't until she noticed that Ethan was gently and carefully lifting her body out of the crate that she realized she'd been lost in thought for several minutes.

"I can't believe we found her."  Ethan said as they set her gently on the floor.

"I can't believe she's had a stasis spell put on her."   Alana replied.  "It must've been done right after she was... you know."

Ethan knelt by her body, and tried to move a strand of hair out of her face.  It was stiff, but it did move.  "How soon after?"

"Thirty seconds, maybe a minute at most."  She said after looking at the body for a few moments. 

"Really?"  He asked, looking excited for some reason.

The wood elf nodded.  "It definitely wasn't longer than a minute." 

Ethan stood up and started doing a little happy dance.  "Brain damage doesn't set in for several minutes, we can revive her!"

Alana's jaw dropped.  "Really?"

He smiled so widely she thought it must hurt.  "Absolutely.  Maybe not on this world, but definitely on Earth!" 

"So, she's not dead?"  The wood elf asked.

"Yes, she is dead."  He explained.  "But on our world, we can bring people back from the dead if their injuries aren't too serious and they haven't been dead very long.  We can do the same with her." 

"Truly?"

"Absolutely!" 

He looked like the happiest man in the land, and Beth felt like the happiest woman of all time.  She was going to be alive again!  Of course, then she started wondering how they were going to accomplish that. 

"First we need to get her back to the Argo."  He said.  "I'll fly her there then come back for you.  Just like old times, right?"

Alana gave him a mischievous grin.  "Except this time, I won't resist the impulse to do this."  She walked up to him, wrapped her entire body around him, and gave him a sour-searing kiss. 

Beth felt her arousal start to grow as she watched the diminutive wood elf lock lips and duel tongues with her husband.  She was slightly jealous, but only because she couldn't kiss him herself.   She shocked herself by not being upset that Alana was kissing her -- no, "their" -- husband.

It was a strange feeling.

Good, but strange.

"Yeah, please don't resist doing that; ever." Ethan breathed when their kiss broke. 

"I won't."  Alana replied.

"Me either."  Beth said, though neither could hear her.

"See if you can find some rope so she doesn't fall off." Ethan said as he carefully -- almost lovingly -- held her body.  It was still stiff as a board because the stasis spell rendered it immovable, and therefore very difficult change in any way, even moving a limb. 

Alana rummaged around the room until she found a long length of bailing twine that had been casually thrown into a corner. 

"Here's some rope, and there's..." Alana trailed off as she saw the runic circle on the floor from which the inky black tendril had risen.  "What's this?"

"I have no idea."  Ethan replied with interest.  "It looks like some kind of spell or incantation maybe?"

"I know that."  The wood elf replied.  "But what kind?  It almost looks like... like... I know I've seen a drawing of something like this before, I just don't remember where." 

"Say something if you remember, but we should get going." 

"Yes, of course."  She replied, then tore her eyes away from it and handed the bailing twine to Ethan.  "You can't take off from the street, so how are we going to get her outside without someone seeing?"

"Maybe there's a back door?"  He suggested. 

"I'll go check."  Alana headed for the door but stopped before going downstairs.  She looked back with a wide and genuine smile on her face.  "I'm so glad we found her; I missed her." 

"Me too."  He nodded fervently. 

Beth swallowed and felt her throat grow tight.  She was certain tears would be collecting in her eyes if she wasn't on the astral plane.

They missed her. 

Not just Ethan, but Alana too. 

She felt her heart soar at their words and didn't know whether to jump for joy or break down crying.  She'd hoped they had missed her but hadn't been sure they had until now.

She was shaken from her reverie by Ethan carefully trying to get her body through the door.  That was proving difficult because it was as stiff as a board.  Finally, he gently set it down on the floor and waited for Alana to come back.

"There's a back door, and a set of stairs not too far away that we can use to get her to the roof."  The wood elf announced when she came back.  Ethan nodded and together they carefully carried her body down the stairs, out the back door, up the other set of stairs, and onto the roof. 

Beth trailed behind, watching with a maelstrom of emotions swirling inside of her.  The way they handled her still stiff body with such care was just... there were no words.  They both kept looking at her body and then they would get these small, happy smiles on their faces. 

"I can't believe we found her."  Ethan marveled again when they were safely on a nearby rooftop and had set her body down on the roof. 

"But we did; I don't know how, but we did."  Alana grinned.

"Could you strap her to my back as securely as possible?"  He said nodding at Beth's body.  "I don't want to take a chance of her falling; I won't lose her again." 

Beth's heart soared...

...then it fell

How was she going to follow Ethan back to the Argo?  She couldn't hold onto anything in this damned... then she remembered what Gabriella had said and smiled; that frustrating woman really had thought of everything. 

Once Alana had put the weight-reduction necklace on Beth's body and finished tying it to Ethan's back, the blonde teen wrapped her arms around her own body.  They held.  Her own body was easy to hold onto, unlike everything else in this thrice-damned Astral Plane.  She grabbed on tightly, determined that she wasn't going to let him go again.

Her heart soared with him as he took off.

She was going home.