A Tale of Dragons

Chapter 19

Why would flying during the day be a problem?" Beth asked

"I think we should wait until nightfall." Alana said, and then turned to Beth. "The city guards probably wouldn't take kindly to seeing a dragon suddenly flying towards The Bank. It might make them nervous. Come on, let's get our stuff together, eat something, and we'll explain."

The girls looted the camp supplies for breakfast, while Ethan checked the corpses, finding only a few gold coins between them. He took them and decided to keep the warhammer as well, just in case they ran into another armored foe.

Once they sat down to eat, and at Beth's questions, Ethan explained how he had come to this world and his contretemps with Lord Delmar. That in turn led to a recounting everything that had happened so far. Beth asked so many questions, that finally Ethan had to call a halt to her interrogation so he could finish eating. Once they were on the road to Alana's clearing, Beth continued her questioning.

She was easily the most curious person he had ever met.

Several times, Ethan caught a flicker of annoyance from Alana through their bond. He gave her a questioning look, but she gave no indication of what was annoying her. Ethan had a pretty good idea that it was Beth's continual questions, but he didn't find them annoying. On the contrary, she seemed to hang on his every word. And she was cute.

By the time they reached Alana's clearing, Ethan could feel that the annoyance from Alana had turned into frustration. She seemed to feel excluded, alone, and a little jealous.

"Okay." Ethan said to Beth when they arrived at the ashes of her home. "Enough questions for now. My throat is starting to hurt."

"I'm sorry Beth said. "Father always says I ask too many questions. It's just, you're a dragon! How many other chances will I get to question a dragon? But I'll rein them in."

She turned to Alana. "So, you grow trees for enchanting staffs? How does one make a tree better for enchanting?"

For the next hour, it was Ethan's turn to feel left out.

Beth peppered Alana with questions on every topic imaginable. She was especially interested in enchanting and Elven culture and it was obvious that Beth had read a lot on both subjects, but didn't have any experience with either. She was a good listener, and her questions were intelligent and to the point, assimilating and digesting the answers with ease.

It took a while before Alana tired of the never-ending questions. At which point Beth fell silent and spent the next hour pacing, deep in thought. Her brother had long since fallen asleep out of sheer boredom.

"I'm sorry I was annoyed." Alana murmured to Ethan while Beth wandered the clearing. "She's a really nice girl and I like her a lot."

"Why were you so annoyed?" he asked. "Was it just so many questions?"

"It was, uh." Alana hesitated, her cheeks gaining a pink tinge. "Oh, it's not important. Don't worry about it."

"Okay." He said slowly, not sure what was going on in her head, despite their bond. There was an awkward silence for a few minutes until Beth came back with more questions.

The rest of the day passed slowly, broken only by a meal at midday, having looted and carried off enough food from the kidnapper's camp to put together a decent lunch.

"I'm going to take a nap." Alana said midway through the afternoon, after they had cleared away the remnants of their meal. "Please don't let me sleep too long."

"Sure thing." Ethan replied. He watched Alana walk off into the forest and lay down on a patch of moss. She flopped down and her hair cascaded over her face, framing it exquisitely.

She was breathtakingly beautiful.

* * *

Alana was lying in her bed, snuggled under a thick blanket while a fire flickered in the fireplace. The fire was odd because she didn't remember her wooden house ever having a fireplace. She felt drowsy, cozy and comfortable.

Ethan walked in from the outside, closed the door, and then slid into bed behind her. She snuggled back against him and drew his arm around her. They lay there snuggling for what seemed like an eternity of bliss. Ethan leaned over and kissed her cheek very tenderly. Alana sighed happily and snuggled even closer to him.

Everything was right with the world and she felt safe, content and loved.

"Alana." Ethan said, but his voice sounded strange -- as if it was coming from a great distance.

"You're so comfortable." Alana mumbled.

"Alana, wake up." Ethan repeated, and then the whole house started to gently shake. She ignored the shaking for as long as she could, but then remembered that Hermair had burned her house down, so this couldn't be her house.

"Alana, it's time to wake." Ethan's voice said again.

Alana jerked awake and instinctively reached for her bow... and hit Ethan's face instead.

"Ow!" they both said at the same time.

"Sorry." She said, making a mental note that punching dragon scales was a bad idea.

"I'm fine, how's your hand?" Ethan replied.

"It'll stop hurting or fall off; either way I'm good."

"Okay, I'm about to fly Beth to that field near Gralden." Ethan said. It was getting near evening and would probably be dark within the hour. "I just need you to watch the boy while I'm gone."

"Of course." Alana said, handing her weight reduction necklace to Ethan, then turning to the blonde . "Beth, you'll want to braid your hair or it'll be a rat's nest when you arrive."

The young blonde quickly braided her hair, tied it with a thin leather strap, and put on the necklace Ethan handed her. He dropped to all fours and she climbed up awkwardly onto his back.

"I'll be back soon." Ethan said, then leapt into to the air, flapped his wings and was gone.

Alana spent the next two hours watching over Charles. He didn't get up to too much trouble, which gave her a lot of time to think. Her dream kept coming to mind. She was shocked by how much she had reveled in it. She had only known Ethan a few days, but it felt like much longer.

Was it their bond?

Alana examined his emotions. He was feeling blissful -- she wasn't sure why -- but thought it might be because he was flying. She briefly considered that Beth was the cause, but dismissed it. She didn't like the idea that his contentment was caused by the blonde. She liked Beth -- she was curious, intelligent and rather fun to talk to -- but what if Ethan liked Beth more than her?

Alana shook her head, refusing to believe she was jealous of the blond girl. Of course, Alana had no actual claim on Ethan except through their bond, which in Elven culture meant they were married. And her mother had once told her that the bond made it nigh on impossible to avoid falling deeper in love with a good man.

Ethan was definitely a good man.

But did she love him?

She honestly didn't know but it didn't matter, the practical side of her brain pointed out. Dragons live a lot longer even than elves and it would never work out. One day she would be old and he would still be young and vigorous. Plus he was a dragon, a totally different species than elves.

But different races like humans, elves, and even the orcs intermarry all the time, countered her emotional side.

But they never have children, and I want some, her logical side argued.

Aha, there are no female dragons. They use the women of other races to carry their young. So you could bear his children, her emotions disagreed.

At that point, Alana halted the argument. She was thinking about having children with a man -- a dragon -- whom she had known for less than a fortnight. Bond or no bond, that was too fast. Besides, she wasn't even sure he felt the same way.

She determinedly tried to put it out of her mind.

Eventually, Ethan returned to pick up the boy. He gave Alana a curious look when he landed, but Charles was so excited at being about to fly a dragon, he didn't say anything. At least, that's what she hoped as she helped to secure the boy with a leather strap around him, and watched Ethan take off again.

She lay spread-eagled on her back and looked up at the stars above. She caught herself trying to find a dragon in the constellations, and then closed her eyes and waited for Ethan to come back to her.

* * *

Alana was spread on the biggest and softest bed in the most beautiful room she had ever seen, draped in gossamer scarves that barely concealed her breasts and slit, and left nothing to the imagination elsewhere. She tried to move, but found soft silken cords binding her arms and legs to the corners of the bed.

She was completely helpless

The door opened and Ethan walked in -- no, he prowled in -- with a look in his eye Alana had never seen before, a primal, hungry look that made her shudder. It was frightening, but also exciting. He stalked over to the bed and walked around it like a vulture circling its prey.

Between his legs, the scales parted and his c**k slipped forward and rose into view. It was at least eight inches long and still growing in length and girth, the sight transfixing the petite elf... She had never seen one before and didn't know they could be this big. Then he climbed onto the bed between her legs and his intentions could not have been clearer.

Alana shivered, but couldn't tell if it was fear or anticipation that made her skin quiver.

"I'm going to breed you, my mate." The dragon stated. It wasn't a request, a command, or even a threat; it was a simple statement of fact.

"Please..." Alana trailed off. She wasn't sure how she wanted the sentence to end.

"Please what?" he asked as he used one of his claws to slit the sheer fabric covering her breasts and cast the scrap of cloth aside. He blew on her n*****s and they responded by growing erect and almost painfully hard. His breath was warm and its flowed over her breasts sending the most exquisite sensations rushing to her extremities.

"Please... I want..." She knew exactly what she wanted, but she didn't dare say it. She was barely able to think it. He leaned forward and breathed on her neck, so close to her but still not... quite... touching.

"Tell me what you want, Alana." He repeated patiently. The heat of his breath was causing shivers to run up and down her body and making her tremble. She wanted him to touch her. Why wasn't he touching her?

"I want to..." Alana couldn't bring herself to say it.

"You want to feel me inside of you." Ethan whispered into her ear. "You want to be wrapped around me while I penetrate you to the core. Is that what you want?"

Alana nodded. Illuminar forgive her, but that's exactly what she wanted.

"Yes." She found herself whimpering,

"You are mine." He said, almost casually. She felt a tug at her core -- their bond. She could feel it at the back of her mind -- a gentle pressure to obey him, to follow and serve him.

"I am yours." Alana repeated. She liked how that sounded.

His long tongue emerged to gently lick her neck. She moaned and tried to embrace him, to pull him down on top of her, but her hands and feet were still tied. Her mind said he should stop -- that this was a bad idea -- but every inch of her body wanted him to keep going. She fought with herself for a whole minute before her willpower won.