A Dragon's Tale

CHAPTER 14: How to Train your Dragon Huntress

Ethan opened the captain's cabin door only a crack to ensure he wouldn't be fried by the attacking dragon. Fortunately, the weather deck was clear and he could see the dragon circling in the night sky not far away. Alana peeked out from behind him, bow and arrow at the ready.

*Stay here and only fire from the cover of the cabin.* He instructed telepathically. The last thing he wanted was for his wife to be in harm's way, but he was under no illusion that she would sit this one out.

She nodded and knocked an arrow into her bow.

Ethan left the captain's cabin and took stock. There was a long scorch mark on the deck from dragon's fire, but the fire hadn't caught. Looking around, he saw Rachel with a large fireball moments before she launched it at the dragon. It moved slowly enough that the dragon was able to dodge it.

There was a "TWANG" behind him and an arrow found its mark on the dragon's scales. Unfortunately, it skittered off after striking them at an oblique angle.

The dragon roared and Ethan felt the full effect of a dragon's roar for the first time. The sound seemed to reverberate through his very bones. It was like being thrown into an icy pond mid-winter. He felt a compulsion to freeze or run buried deep in the roar.

He didn't listen.

Instead, he felt something else welling up within him. He felt the call to battle. Another dragon - an equal - had risen to challenge him and take what was rightfully his. Unlike when men tried, this felt different. He didn't feel contempt or the impulse to fly into a blind rage. In a strange way, it almost felt like a compliment.

This dragon wanted to take what was his and was calling him to battle to take it. He was roaring to challenge the rightful owner of the gold. Something deep in Ethan's spirit soared. He felt a rush of power that inspired him to fight for what was rightfully his.

He roared back.

He opened his mouth and let loose all the power ferocity that was bubbling underneath the surface. He wanted to take this challenger and put him in his rightful place; bowing to the superior dragon. The other dragon roared back; it was instantly obvious that neither would back down.

Moments later, the enormous dragon dove towards the weather deck and then landed just forward of the main mast with a resounding boom, shaking the Argo as the several hundred pound beast landed.

"We meet again, whelp." It hissed.

"Yet we haven't been properly introduced." Ethan countered, wanting to know the name of his prey.

"Havorleth" He looked pensive for several moments before speaking again. "You have changed. You are not the same spineless coward who surrendered his gold to me last week."

"No, I'm not." Ethan growled.

They stared at each other for a moment, sizing each other up. Havorleth was much larger than Ethan. He was nowhere near Drousin's size, but he was at least twice Ethan's size. Ethan had once been within six feet of a lion at the zoo, with only a thick pane of glass separating them. The lion was majestic and deadly all at once. The creature had seemed massive and like the only thing preventing it from ripping him apart was that thick pane of glass.

This was like that, only without the glass.

Havorleth glanced around the deck of the Argo, surveying the ship's meager defenders, all of whom were dwarfed by his size. "I will give you one chance; surrender the gold-" He nodded toward the captain's cabin. "-and I will spare your lives. I'm so generous, I'll even allow you to keep the gold in your crop this time. Refuse me, and..." He exhaled a small puff of smoke and glanced at the scorch mark on the weather deck.

"I have a counteroffer." Ethan growled as he felt the dragon within him bristle at the idea of giving up its gold. "Leave this place - not just my ship but this whole region - and I won't dump your carcass in the nearest ravine for the vultures to feast on."

Havorleth laughed.

It was a deep, booming, throaty laugh. It somehow spoke of great amusement but was entirely mirthless, like he was entertained, but that had not remotely affected his disposition.

"You're not the dragon I'm afraid of little one." He sneered.

"So which dragon are you afraid of?" Alana asked from the doorway to the captain's cabin.

That wiped the smile off his face. He growled as he look at the wood elf with disdain; like she was pond scum or gum stuck to the bottom of a shoe. "How dare you speak to one such as I. Know your place, you insolent cow."

"How. Dare. You." Ethan breathed, every exhale coming out as a low growl. The dragon in him was fighting to release its rage and attack Havorleth with a fury that dwarfed what he'd felt moments ago at the thought of losing his gold. It wanted to rip this other dragon apart with its bare hands.

But Ethan had learned his lesson.

He remembered what had happened to Beth when he lost control, so he forced himself to remain standing as he was. He retained control despite the dragon in him clawing to get out.

Barely, but he did.

Havorleth looked confused. "Why such concern for a mere mortal? Do you have such concern for all your slaves?"

"We are

not

slaves." Hailey said firmly from the doorway to the lower decks.

Havorleth growled and puffed a small jet of flame in Hailey's direction. She avoided it by diving down the stairs, but barely missed getting singed.

"Silence cow; know your place among your betters."

"They both make good points." Ethan said with another growl. "They aren't my slaves, and what dragon do you fear?"

"Certainly not you." Havorleth snarled. "This is your last chance; give up the gold or perish with your flock of mortals."

"I choose option C." Ethan replied, then whipped his spear out as hard and as fast as he could.

Havorleth was large, but that size did have its downsides. He wasn't fast enough to fully avoid the spear, but that didn't matter because it skittered off his scales and landed on the deck. The larger dragon roared, but Ethan shrugged it off and called his spear back to his hands.

The "twang" of a bowstring sounded behind him. An arrow narrowly missed Havorleth's eye, and then only because his reaction time was incredible. The larger dragon spread his wings and leapt into the air, spewing fire at Ethan and Alana as he did so.

Trusting that the wood elf was ready for this, Ethan dived sideways instead of backwards and rolled to come up ready. A quick glance behind confirmed that the door to the captain's cabin door had caught fire, but his beautiful bride was already safely inside.

Moments later, the fire died completely as it streamed away from the door and into the waiting hands of their resident redheaded mage. He had never before appreciated what she could do when given an ample supply of fire to work with.

She was amazing.

The flame-haired beauty made a compressing motion, taking the fireball from two feet wide to two inches wide in mere moments, compressing and concentrating it until it blazed like a white dwarf star. She then released the fireball toward the dragon like a cannonball. It streaked through the sky far faster than her first attempt and found its mark. Havorleth howled out in pain as it veritably exploded on his side. There was no damage and his incredibly heat-resistant dragon scales looked unharmed, but that must've hurt.

"Holy shit." Ethan breathed.

"Yeah, it's amazing what I can do without a will-breaker ring on." She grinned.

"Incoming!" Serif shouted as another jet of flame blasted from Havorleth's mouth toward them. Rachel and Ethan dived in opposite directions, narrowly avoiding becoming overcooked brisket. Moments later, the fire died out as Rachel pulled the heat away, condensed it into another fireball, and launched it toward their attacker with deadly accuracy.

Havorleth again howled in pain again, but otherwise seemed unaffected. Moments later, another arrow skittered off it's scales and he heard his wife groan in frustration.

*How do you ground a dragon?* She asked telepathically.

*Maybe hit it with lightning?* He spread his wings and leapt into the sky, charging his hammer as he went.

A few powerful flaps saw him well above the Argo's mast, but Havorleth was nowhere to be seen.

*Above you!* Alana shouted into his mind.

He craned his neck just in time to see the massive dragon diving down on him from above. He flapped hard to avoid him, but there was no way he would be able to.

Suddenly, a powerful gust of wind arose out of nowhere, caught his outstretched wings, and blew him out of Havorleth's way. The streaked past him and Ethan's eye line went from the dragon to the redhead on the Argo, who had her hands raised toward him.

*Thank Rachel for me.* He thought to Alana as he also tucked his wings and dove after the larger dragon, charging his hammer even more as he went.

Havorleth spread his wings to slow his decent, so Ethan altered his course until he was directly above the other dragon. With a primal shout of triumph, he released the charge from his hammer. The bolt of lightning shot straight down and hit Havorleth, who yelped and snarled, in pain, shock, and surprise.

Ethan peeled off and landed back on the Argo next to Alana and Rachel, then turned to the redhead. "I owe you one."

Rachel opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted when the Argo shook as Havorleth landed on the quarter deck. Anthiel abandoned her position by the ship's wheel and gracefully vaulted over the railing to join the others on the weather deck. Likewise, Alana fled the captain's cabin to avoid being trapped inside.

The larger dragon had shock and anger written all over his face, but otherwise looked unharmed. Apparently, it took a little more power in his electrical attacks to hurt a dragon.

"How!?" Havorleth demanded as he took a step towards them. "How did a whelp like you learn to wield Illuminar's own weapon?"

"You haven't seen anything yet." Ethan said, bluffing with far more confidence than he felt. "That was just a warning. Leave, or the next one will burn a hole right through you."

Havorleth stared at him for several seconds before grinning. "You are a terrible liar whelp." He started stalking forward with a predatory gleam in his eyes

Ethan, Alana, and Rachel began to backup, trying to ensure there was enough time to dive out of the way if he started to shoot flame. Ethan started charging his hammer again, this time planning to fill it to its full capacity to make the bolt as powerful as possible.

*Spread out and stall as long as possible.* He thought to Alana. *I need more time to charge a final bolt of lightning.*

*Will do.* The wood elf broke off from them and started heading toward the port side of the ship while Ethan headed to starboard. Rachel seemed to catch on and split the difference between them.

Havorleth stalked down the stars from the quarterdeck, taking his time to observe them. He glanced back and forth between them as if sizing them up. That's when Ethan saw Hailey. She was at the top of the stairs to the lower decks, behind Havorleth and completely out of his sight...

And she was holding a grenade.

He mimed pulling the pin, but Hailey raised her hands with a frustrated look on her face. She pointed at the grenade and then silently threw her hands in the air again.

*She doesn't know how to use magic.* Alana guessed.

*Shit!* He replied while still charging his hammer. He could feel it reaching capacity.

"You know." Ethan said a little more loudly than he might've otherwise done. "You could

throw

the fight, then we'd have victory in our hands."

Hailey nodded, but Havorleth looked confused.

"Ready?" Ethan hefted his hammer and looked right at Havorleth, but saw Hailey nod out of the corner of his eye.

The larger dragon narrowed his eyes. He was standing in the middle of the weather deck, equidistant from the port and starboard railings. He was subtly crouch low, like some great cat about to pounce. All his concentration was focused on Ethan.

It was now or never.

*Signal Hailey!* He thought to Alana and then threw his hammer high above Havorleth at almost the same moment that Hailey threw the grenade towards them in a high arc. He had thrown his hammer harder and higher, knowing he needed it above the larger dragon to score a hit.

Ethan released the charge from his hammer as the grenade hit the apex of its trajectory. Lightning arced down from the hammer, but something went wrong. Instead of shooting toward Havorleth, it arced towards the steel body of the grenade.

CRACK!! BOOM!!

The grenade exploded a dozen feet in the air, high over Havorleth's head while the most powerful bolt of light that he'd ever released split the sky.

The combined sound was deafening.

Everyone cried out in pain and several clamped their hands over their ears. The bolt of lightning headed toward the earth, forking to miss the non-conductive wooden hull of the Argo, and disappearing harmlessly over the side of the ship.

Ethan's ears were ringing.

He couldn't hear much as the combined noise from the lightning bolt and grenade had battered his poor eardrums. He started healing them and looked at their foe. Havorleth looked extremely shaken, but mostly unharmed. The grenade had exploded high above his head and it didn't look like he had any wounds from shrapnel.

That's when Serif and Raklan charged.

Ethan had almost forgotten about them. They were both armed with long spears and large shields that looked like leather, probably enchanted. Raklan bull-rushed forwards and put his entire body weight into a thrust. It caught the dragon's scales, but they seemed to dissipate the impact extremely well and only made a shallow wound.

Havorleth howled in pain.

The moment Raklan's spear landed, Serif pulled out a set of bolo and threw it at the dragon. The twin balls flew toward the dragon, who reacted incredibly fast by raising an arm to intercept them before they hit his body. The bolo wrapped around the arm, and then magically pulled tight around it. It didn't impede his motion because it was only wrapped around one arm, but Ethan well remembered the last time he'd seen those.

Kendra.

She'd used them on him in The Arena.

Where did Serif get a set?

Havorleth turned around and spewed fire at Serif, who simply raised his massive shield and took shelter behind it. The shield took nearly five seconds of dragon's breath before the stream of fire ceased, leaving both Serf and his shield completely unhurt. Clearly it was either well-enchanted or made of something flame resistant, probably both. For some reason, it occurred to Ethan that leather made from dragon skin would probably be

very

fire resistant.

Meanwhile, Raklan had circled around the larger dragon and thrust his spear into him again. As before, it didn't penetrate deeply, but enough that the dragon felt it. Havorleth howled in pain, and with a jump and flap of his wings he leapt up onto the quarterdeck.

Ethan saw the trickle of blood flowing from the larger dragon slow and stop, presumably because he'd magically healed the wounds. Despite all their trying and progress, he was still mostly unharmed and they were out of tricks.

Raklan and Serif charged up the stairs to the quarter deck, moving in near perfect synchronicity. They charged at the same time and Havorleth beat a hasty retreat over the side of the Argo and began to fly in circles around it.

Ethan took stock.

Alana was staggering to her feet, a small trickle of blood coming out of her lovely ears from the explosion, but otherwise she looked unhurt. Most everyone else was in similar shape except Rachel, who was clutching her side, where a large red spot had appeared in her clothes.

*Alana, see to Rachel.* He thought to her, then said shouted aloud. "This is your last chance Havorleth; leave this entire region now."

If looks could kill, Ethan would've died on the spot. Despite that, the larger dragon appeared to be wincing slightly with every flap of the wings. He glanced around the deck at the injured crew of the Argo, but apparently decided it wasn't worth the risk.

"We'll meet again whelp." Havorleth said before peeling off and flying away.

Ethan breathed a sigh of relief.

It was over...

For now

* * *

Alana helped Rachel to lie down on the deck as the mage clutched her side. The wound didn't look life threatening, but it looked extremely painful judging from the way she was moving.

"Hey, stay with me." The wood elf said softly.

Rachel glanced down at her side and grimaced. "Yeah, I'm not going anywhere."

Once Rachel was lying down, Alana gently moved her hand to see the wound better. There was a gnarled piece of metal stuck in her abdomen, mostly on the right side just above her right hip.

"I need to pull this out before I can try healing the wound." The wood elf said.

"I'll heal it, you just pull the damn thing out." Rachel groaned. "And please get some whiskey for disinfectant."

"I'll get the whiskey." Ethan said as he arrived and then leaving just as quickly to fetch it.

"You're going to be okay." Alana said. Tithe wound didn't look life-threatening, but it was still hard to watch her friend be in so much pain.

"Here." Ethan said as he returned clutching a bottle. "Alana; if you pull, I'll pour. Rachel, can you manage the healing or should one of us do it."

"I got it." She coughed, then winced in pain as the movement jarred the gnarled bit of metal. She looked around the deck, then at Alana. "Let me have one of your arrows." She asked, and then clamped her teeth around the wooden shaft when she was given one.

She nodded at the wood elf.

Alana took hold of the gnarled bit of metal, and pulled.

Rachel clenched her fists and groaned loudly. Her arms were shaking and her agony was obvious.

"It won't come." Alana said after a moment. "I think it's caught on your clothes."

"Here, use this." Serif said at Alana's shoulder.

She jumped as she hadn't heard him approach. He held out a straight, single-edged razor, which she took. Ten seconds of careful slicing later, all of the fabric around the wound was gone. She folded the razor and put it in the small pocket on the side of her dress in case she needed it again, because Serif had left to check the damage to the Argo.

"Ready?" She asked the groaning redhead, who nodded and bit down harder on the arrow shaft.

Alana grabbed the gnarled bit of metal again and gently pulled. Rachel nearly screamed and the wood elf was surprised she didn't bite the arrow in half. The gnarled bit of metal came free and the wound started bleeding even more. Rachel nodded at Ethan, who poured some whiskey into the wound.

Rachel sucked in her breath and her eyes rolled back into their sockets a little.

Her head lolled for a moment, then she put her hands over the wound and the bleeding started to slow. The bleeding had nearly stopped a minute later, but the wound wasn't fully healed and Rachel's eyes kept closing. Finally, she seemed to pass out from the pain and lay still.

Alana put her hands over the wound and started trying to heal it herself. It took much of her mana because she wasn't good at healing other people, but she managed. Once it looked like all the skin had closed properly, she took some of the bottle of whisky and poured it over the wound, just to make sure.

"I'll get some water." Ethan said, and returned a few moments later with some water from the ship's supply.

Alana poured this over the wound too, completely clearing any blood that was left. The wound was closed. Rachel was healed. Her face seemed to relax and any traces of pain disappeared and she went from the edge of consciousness to what appeared to be a restful sleep. She looked a bit pale, but really hadn't bled very much at all. Certainly not enough to be dangerous.