A Tale of Dragons

Chapter 17

Ethan and Alana crept closer. There was a woman pacing beside the fire, wearing a long cloak and what looked like black leather pants. Her hair was brownish red at the top, but slowly fading down to almost blond at the tips. The overall effect made her hair resemble fire and was quite striking; even beautiful.

He couldn't see her face, but could see a ring on her finger with a large gemstone. Either the ring was occasionally glowing or it kept catching the firelight at very odd angles.

Someone exited one of the tents and walked over to her. Ethan didn't catch his question, but the volume of her response made it hard to miss, especially to his dragon ears.

"If any of you even think of touching that woman I'll burn your balls off. Slowly." The flame-haired woman pulled some flames from the bonfire, wrapped them around her fist into a fireball, and then pointed at the man's groin to emphasize the point.

"Now get back to your watch." She spat. The man scampered away.

"I guess we know who's in charge." Ethan whispered.

Alana nodded. "The trouble is, how do we get past her?"

"Could we sneak them out? I'm betting they're being held in that tent." He pointed at the tent the guard had exited.

"We could try." She whispered. "There will be lookouts in the forest though."

"It's better than trying to fight a woman who can control fire."

"True."

They both crept forward as quietly as they could. They were about fifty yards away from the clearing when Alana touched Ethan. She pointed up into a tree where a man was perched in the fork of a branch, clearly supposed to be on watch. He was also clearly asleep.

Ethan glanced at the sky. It was definitely growing lighter.

They crept closer, careful to make as little noise as possible. She nocked an arrow to her bowstring, but didn't raise it. Ethan held his spear a little tighter. Several tense minutes later, they were within thirty feet of the clearing.

He motioned to Alana to stay where she was and then crept forward to the nearest tent. It looked medieval, which meant that there would in all likelihood be no floor covering joined to the sides, which were simply tacked to the ground at intervals. Using the tent for cover and walking on three legs while using the fourth to hold the spear, he made it to the tent.

Using one claw, Ethan quietly lifted the edge to see inside. It looked like a storage tent. There were food supplies stacked up in several places along with blankets and a few barrels. Ethan crept back.

Alana lifted her palms in question.

Ethan shook his head, and then pointed to the next tent. They made their way through the trees until they were masked by the second tent, and he advanced again. As before, he was able to creep up to the tent without anyone noticing.

The sky was definitely getting brighter.

When he lifted the tent, he was delighted to see two people tied to a stake driven into the earth. The sandy-haired boy looked to be on the verge of puberty, while the girl looked to be in her late teens.

Both of them were sleeping.

Ethan crept under the tent, crouching low. Through the open tent flap, he could see the bonfire and the flame-haired woman crossing back and forth. He moved closer and used the tip of his spear to cut the ropes binding their hands.

Outside, the sky was growing ever brighter.

He could feel Alana's growing nervousness through their bond. He was nervous too, but at least he had found what they had been looking for. Still staying low, he gently shook the woman. She rolled over, saw him and her eyes went wide.

That's when Ethan remembered he was a dragon, and therefore looked like a dragon. He put his finger to his lips, and the woman strangled a cry in her throat.

'I'm here to rescue you." He whispered as quietly as he could.

The blond woman nodded, and then looked to the boy.

"Can you wake him up?" Ethan again whispered as quietly as he could.

The blond woman understood his meaning and nodded again. She reached over and gently shook the boy. He awoke and the woman started to tug him toward the back of the tent. Ethan was just about to cut the ropes binding their feet when the boy turned and saw Ethan.

"Aaah!" The boy screamed the moment he saw Ethan's draconic form.

Throwing caution to the wind, Ethan stood up and readied his spear. The flame-haired witch appeared at the tent's entrance a moment later. For a moment she looked happy, her expression blissful, then her ring glowed and her face twisted into a mask of rage. The bonfire behind her dimmed slightly, and a fireball appeared in each of her hands.

Ethan did the only thing he could think of. He jumped straight at her and lunged with his spear. She leapt out of the way. Ethan's jump carried him much further than he thought it would. He landed outside the tent and rolled into a crouch.

He had just enough time to get his bearings before he had to jump again to dodge a fireball from the mage. He dodged the first one, but evidently she'd been waiting for that. The moment he jumped, she launched a second fireball and Ethan frantically twisted in mid-air, only just avoiding it, the heat of it sweeping over him.

Ethan landed and took cover behind a tent -- a cloth tent. He realized his mistake a moment later when the whole thing went up in flames. He leapt away from it just in time to see the flame-haired woman lurch forward.

She whipped around, turning her back to him and Ethan saw one of Alana's arrows dangling from her cloak, demonstrating that she must be wearing armor. Rachel launched a fireball at Alana and she spun around to avoid it. Some of the brush around her caught fire and she found herself having to run hard to avoid the flames, a drifting ember landing on her arm. She cried out in pain.

Ethan felt the pain through their bond.

A rage welled up inside Ethan -- a deep, primal rage surging through his bones. Ethan opened his mouth and roared, the terrifying sound filling the whole clearing. Even the witch seemed to cower at its intensity.

Ethan charged straight at the flame-haired woman. His claws were out, his teeth were bared, and his spear aimed true as ran forward and leapt at her.

Rachel made a sweeping gesture with her arms and dove backwards. A layer of ice formed above her and Ethan's claws dug into it, while the spear skittered off. The ice wasn't very thick, so his claws ripped through it, but it prevented him from getting to the woman for a split second. He sailed right over her prone body and landed several yards beyond her.

Alana ran up behind Ethan as the witch stood up.

Half a dozen men ran out from the forest and formed a semi-circle behind her. Oddly, they all carried full buckets of water. The captives were off to the side and their feet were still bound despite the blond woman's attempts to untie their bonds. They were trapped between the newcomers and their captor.

Alana and Ethan squared off against their foes -- two against seven.

"Surrender, and I'll make your deaths quick." The witch said.

Ethan considered. Surrendering wasn't going to happen, and with the sun just about up, escaping into the forest wasn't really viable. A quick glance at the captives made that option obsolete anyway.

The largest and most heavily-armored of the newcomers stepped forward. He was clad in chainmail from head to foot and wore a steel helmet with the visor open.

"Douse it boys." he shouted. A second later, the men dumped their buckets on the large bonfire. The fire died instantly and the men then kicked the larger logs out of the fire pit.

The flame-haired girl whipped around to face the armored man. "What in Ithlan's name are you doing, Wurven?"

"The Lady RachelDelmar." The big man sneered. "Think you're so smart, don't you? Well you shouldn't have let it slip that Lord Delmar is your father. I imagine he'd pay a pretty penny to get his daughter and only heir back."

"How dare you speak to me like that!" She said, though it would've sounded a lot more impressive if her voice hadn't wavered as she took a step back from him.

He laughed. "Without that fire you're just a piddling lightweight. I just have to skin me a dragon and take care of that juicy little wood elf and collect teh bounty on them too. It'll be a good day for us -- not so much for you. What do you say?"

He took a single step toward Rachel.

She took several steps backwards. She was now within a few feet of Alana and Ethan.

Ethan glanced at Alana. Through their bond, Ethan could feel her concern and he didn't think it was just for them and the captives. An unspoken conversation passed between them. Ethan wasn't sure if it was their bond or perhaps they just read each other's body language well. But in an instant, they agreed on the best course of action.

Ethan took a few steps forward until he was standing beside Rachel before speaking. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Rachel jumped, looked his way, and then nodded. Alana stepped up on Rachel's other side and nocked an arrow on her bow.

Wurven laughed. "You think the three of you can beat us? Odds are two to one. And if you go down, then your father will just have to be disappointed and we'll make do with handing in the brats. He's a banker and--"

Alana moved so fast, Ethan almost didn't see her start. She had the polished look of someone who had done this a thousand times. She raised her bow and loosed an arrow at Wurven's face. He turned his head just in time and the arrow skittered off the armor.

"Kill them!" He shouted as he dropped his visor. His men charged, swords raised.

Chaos ensued.

Alana backpedaled and managed to fire an arrow into the chest of one of the oncoming men before jumping backwards to avoid his sword.