Chapter 57: Diabolus Ex Machina
I now have an editor, so you all shouldn't need to put up with my typos and poor/dyslexic editing skills anymore.
:)
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Ethan yawned as he led his wives into the captain's cabin after bidding everyone good night. With Victoria and her parents Harold and Carla plus Myla, there were rather more people on the Argo than usual. Once the door was closed behind him, his wives started casually shucking their dresses as they chatted about random things. He leaned against the doorframe and watched, a smile on his face as he saw them all getting along perfectly and being perfectly comfortable with each other.
They climbed onto the bed once they were naked, still chatting away like old friends. Rachel wasn't naked of course, but even she had reached to undo the wrap supporting her breasts before catching herself and stopping.
He smiled wider at that.
"Dominus?" Beth looked at him quizzically.
"You all are wonderful." He smiled, looking at all of them and ending with a somewhat pointed look at Kendra.
She frowned slightly and then made an adorable face where it looked like she was trying to frown, but the edge of a smile played around her lips anyway.
His wives all sighed.
That was about when he heard a soft scratching at the captain's cabin door.
"Thor?" Alana guessed.
The ladies all moved so they wouldn't be exposed if Ethan opened the door a crack. Once they had moved, he did and the little kitten darted into the room and Ethan closed the door behind him. Thor immediately ran to the bed and then sat down and let out a loud, squeaky meow.
"Come here." Kendra said as she picked him up and put him on the bed. He immediately ran to what looked like a specific spot and started sniffing, then flopped down and let out a mournful meow.
"That's where Selene slept those two nights that she slept in here." Beth said to Ethan.
"Sorry little kitty, she's not here." Ethan said.
Thor let out another mournful meow.
His wives looked around at each other.
"Someone please say something." Taloni asked with her eyes looking slightly watery.
"My Lord." Rachel spoke up. "We should talk about the battle with..." She looked at the door, outside of which their guests might be able to hear. "...with the black dragon."
"Good idea." Kendra gently petted Thor and then turned to face Ethan, her scars on display for all to see and yet she didn't seem bothered or self-conscious about them.
It was good to see.
"Yeah." He went to the bed and sat down so he could see everyone, then spoke in a low voice so as not to be overheard by those outside. "Let's start with the obvious. I think it's pretty certain that Lady Ekthros or Lord Delmar has people watching Sarah's inn."
"Agreed." Kendra nodded.
"That means we probably shouldn't go back, doesn't it?" Beth asked.
"We shouldn't do more than a quick visit like I did earlier today unless we want to fight Lord Delmar again." Kendra replied. "Anything longer would be the height of foolishness considering how the fight went. I have fought some dangerous dragons in my day, but he is Drago-level in power."
"Yeah." Ethan nodded. "I'm pretty certain he could've killed us all even with that arrow in his back." He looked at Alana. "Nice shot by the way."
"Thank you, and I agree about Lord Delmar." The wood elf said. "He wasn't Kyrupto, but I don't think we stood a chance even with him wounded."
"We didn't." Kendra said matter-of-factly. "And speaking of Kyrupto, I told Ethan this earlier, but you all should know that he's headed down south and almost certainly looking for Ethan." She then explained what the man at Sarah's inn had told her about the copper dragon.
"That's not good Master." Tee's wings fluttered.
"Understatement of the century." Ethan nodded. "But one thing at a time. Orcs first and then hopefully Selene will be able to deal with the portal and Gonorran, then we'll be free to focus on Kyrupto and the two lords trying to kill us. One impossible thing at a time."
His wives all nodded.
"My lord, what if we only had to fight Lord Farbrottan?" Rachel said quietly. "Maybe my father could be convinced that we're not... well, you know."
"Why don't you tell everyone what happened when he took you off the Argo?" Ethan suggested.
Rachel told everyone and then bit her lip. "What if he didn't put the will-breaker ring on me? What if Lady Ekthros tricked him into giving it to me and he didn't know? She did say that it was a kidnapping ring."
"Kidnapping ring?" Ethan asked.
"It's something that Lady Ekthros invented." The redhead explained. "The Ring is linked to a piece of leather cord attached to a heavy weight. When the ring is activated, the leather tries to fly to the ring but is prevented by the weight. However, the enchantment means that the leather cord is always pointing at the kidnapped person, making him or her easy to find."
"That's very clever." Alana nodded, then cocked her head to one side. "I could easily create something like that for all of us in case one of us is captured again, and maybe a collar for Thor as well."
"Good idea." Ethan gave her a thumbs up.
Rachel hesitated a moment before speaking again. "So, do you think that Lady Ekthros convinced him to give me the will breaker ring without him knowing what it was?"
"Perhaps." Kendra frowned. "But dragons seem quite attuned to demonic things; you think he would've sensed something."
"But Ethan didn't sense the curse on the cold cube." The redhead pointed out.
"But Kyrupto did." Kendra interjected.
"Only after it had been destroyed." Rachel replied.
"If I'm paying attention, I can tell now." Ethan said. "Maybe I just missed it before because I knew almost nothing about magic or curses?"
"Or maybe the curse disguises itself since you didn't sense it before the curse was destroyed." Rachel suggested. "That would make sense for a will-breaker ring too; I know they're hard to detect."
"Well, there's an easy way to check." Alana said, then got up from the bed and walked to the large desk in the opposite corner of the room. Ethan watched his naked wife with interest as she fished a key out of one of the top drawers, and especially when she bent over to unlock one of the small bottom drawers. She then pulled out a small ring that Ethan hadn't seen in months. The last time he had seen it, Alana had broken Rachel's finger to get it off of her. The redhead still had a black mark on her otherwise perfect fingers from where it had rested.
"You kept it?" He asked, his eyes widening.
"What was I supposed to do? Throw it over the side?" The wood elf replied apologetically. "I didn't know what else to do but lock it up and hide it away."
"Fair." He conceded
"I tried disenchanting it but couldn't." She continued. "I'm not sure any mage could without removing the curse on it; it was just too strongly fused to the ring."
He frowned. "I haven't noticed it once all these months."
"Here, I'll put it in your hand and you can see if you sense anything now." She said as she walked to him. "Just don't put it on."
He gave her a look and then accepted it as she dropped it into the palm of his hand. He closed his eyes and concentrated for almost a whole minute, trying to sense anything 'off' about the ring.
He couldn't.