A Tale of Dragons

Chapter 13

As far as I know, these bonds are unbreakable. They might get weaker with time and distance, but they never go away until you die. What concerns me more is how fast it's growing."

"Oh?"

"Yes. My mother said it took months for her to be able to sense my father's emotions. We've been bonded for less than a week."

"That's..."

"Strange?" Alana offered.

"Hey, this whole thing is strange." Ethan said. "Remember, I come from a place without magic. The whole idea of dragons, elves, magic and now these bonds is a little overwhelming."

She ran her hands through her rich, chocolate brown hair. "You forgot being hunted by dragon slayers and getting semi-married to a wood elf. I can see how that would all be a bit much."

He laughed. "Semi-married -- strange world we live in, isn't it?"

Alana nodded.

"Here's the way I see it." He said. "Either we split up and let this bond weaken over time, or we stick together and figure out what to do with it. Thoughts?"

"No offense, but I don't fancy your chances if we split up." Alana said, spreading her hands. "Lord Delmar is pretty much insane and doesn't let up once he's put his mind to something. At least, that's his reputation. Without some help, I think he'll find you fairly quickly."

She took a deep breath before continuing. "Besides, I was a little lonely all by myself in the forest. You may be ugly, but you're not bad company." She finished with a grin.

Ethan couldn't help but notice that she had a great smile.

He nodded his agreement. "Also, when word of that whole dragon-bride thing gets out, this Lord Delmar might come looking for you to get to me. It might be safer to stick together."

"I hadn't thought of that." She said. "But you're right."

He stuck out his hand. "Partners?"

Alana looked at his hand for a few moments. Again, Ethan felt some excitement mixed with trepidation from her.

After a few moments she asked, "Why are you sticking out your hand like that?"

"It's how we seal a deal where I come from." He explained.

"So, you say hello and seal deals the same way?" She c****d her head to one side. "That's strange."

"I never really thought about it, but yeah it is." Ethan said. He kept his hand out, and Alana stuck out hers in return. He shook it carefully.

"Partners?" He asked again.

"Partners." Alana replied, nodding. "So what happens now?"

"I need to be a better fighter." He said. "I wasn't useless, but when they come for us I want to be ready."

"Then you need gold -- lots of gold. If you can get a large enough hoard, you can start enchanting your body to be stronger and faster. You can also make your scales harder and tougher so weapons won't pierce them easily. They don't make armor for dragons, and enchantments will be better in the end anyway."

"I can feel some gold in that bag." Ethan pointed to her coin purse. "But I'm guessing I'll need a lot more."

"Definitely. Remember how big Drousin's stash was? Something that size would be better."

"You don't have a massive pile of gold just lying around do you?"

Alana laughed and held up her coin purse. "I'm afraid this is it."

"Hmm." Ethan said. "Well, working to get it will take too long. Stealing isn't an option for obvious reasons, and I really don't fancy my chances against a dragon like Drousin right now."

He closed his eyes, trying to think. He turned his mind towards gold and -- to his surprise -- now that he was paying attention, he felt something on the edges of his mind. He could feel the gold in Alana's coin purse. He didn't know how, but he could. The metal was strong, brimming with energy and he could feel its energy slowly flowing towards him in a trickle. It felt good, but it was only a trickle. He needed a flood.

He relaxed and tried to feel other gold nearby. He could feel the odd bit of jewelry or coin back and forth in people's pockets or on their persons, but there really wasn't much at all.

That's when he felt it.

It was at the edge of his perception, but it was there. It was far away, but it was massive. It was a pile of gold so large, it rivaled even Drousin's hoard. Unlike Alana's coins, it wasn't strong or brimming with energy. He could feel all that gold just laying there cold a lifeless waiting for... He wasn't sure what, but he knew if he got close enough he could bring the gold to life. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he knew.

"There's a massive pile of gold not far away." He said finally, turning his attention back to her.

"Dragons are excellent at finding it." Alana smiled. "And that's the vault at The Bank, but I could've told you that."

"The bank?"

"Yes. It's so large it doesn't even need a name. They just call it 'The Bank'. It's said that the vaults have enough gold in them to rival a dragon's hoard."

"The stories are true." He frowned as something occurred to him. "I don't need to own the gold do I? I just need to be near it, right?"

Alana nodded. "According to my conversations with Drousin, you just need to be near it. Why?"

Ethan looked towards the bank. He obviously couldn't see through the wall, but now that he was aware of the gold, it was almost impossible not to think of it. He found a part of himself coveting the gold. Suddenly, the threat of Lord Delmar didn't seem as important anymore. Nothing seemed very important except for that gold...

"Oh." Alana said, catching onto his train of thought. "Oh, that's brilliant."

He shook his head to bring himself out of his reverie. "Are they hiring?"

"The bank? No." She replied. "It's harder to get a job there than in the king's palace. Although..."

"What?" Ethan asked.

"Uncle Garth told me that the bank owner's two children were kidnapped a few days ago. He's offering 50 gold each for their safe return. Plus you can marry his daughter if save her and if you save the son, he's promised the rescuer a job at the bank."

"That's..." Ethan couldn't think of the right word for a moment. "Convenient. A little too convenient if you ask me."

"It gets even more convenient." Alana said. "The kidnappers are rumored to be hiding out in my forest."

"That's... Strange." Ethan stood up and started pacing. "I mean on the surface it sounds like a perfect answer. Rescue the kids and get access to a ton of gold. And it's in your forest so we'd even have home field advantage. But we have a saying were we come from: 'if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is'. I think this qualifies"

"We have a similar saying here. So it's a trap?"

"You think Lord Delmar is that devious?" Ethan wasn't sure he cared very much. The thought of being near that much gold was almost intoxicating.

"He definitely is." Alana furrowed her brow and stroked her chin. "But Hermair isn't, and since he's Lord Delmar's lieutenant I would bet he's leading the search. But he's not that clever. Have you made any other enemies since coming here?"

"Not that I know of."

"Maybe it's just a coincidence?" Judging by her tone, she didn't believe it was either.

"Coincidences usually take a lot of planning." Ethan replied. "If this is a trap, then whoever planned it is pretty devious. Do we have any other options?"

"Not that I can think of." Alana said, tapping her chin with a forefinger as she thought. "We could try a few palaces or other banks, but most people aren't much in favor of letting dragons anywhere near their gold. However, by reputation, the bank owner here is honorable to a fault and if he promised a job to whoever rescued his son, they'll get the job."

"But getting into a fight as we are now..." Ethan grimaced. "We could run. I hate the idea, but we could go far enough away that they won't find us." The moment he said it, he was sure he couldn't run. He couldn't stand the idea of not being near that gold.

Alana shook her head. "You don't understand how fanatical Lord Delmar is. He'll have his men pursue us until we're dead, no matter where we go. I don't want to be looking over my shoulder the rest of my life."

"So, rescuing kids from kidnappers it is then." He said, though his mind was firmly on the gold. "We're going to need weapons."

"I have my bow and Uncle Garth left me some arrows." She said. "I know it doesn't look like much, but the bow is enchanted and packs more punch than you might think. For you though..."

"Sword?" Ethan suggested.

Alana shook her head. "A good quality sword is expensive and it would be hard to use when you are flying. How about a spear instead? I still have my father's old spear in the storage pit near the house. We can pick it up on our way to rescue the children."

"I suppose that would work better if I was flying. It would give me enough reach that I wouldn't need to expose myself to attack."

"Okay, then we're all set except for one thing."

"What's that?"

"About a dozen men left to find the kidnappers a few hours ago, and they had horses." She said.

"And we don't." Said Ethan. "Any ideas?"

Alana looked at him, and then shifted her gaze to look just behind him. He looked back and saw his wing claw peeking up over his shoulder.

Her face took on a mischievous smile. "I do have one."

"No way." Ethan shook his head.

"It's the only way we'll beat them there." She urged. "They have horses and a head start. We are already behind in this race and would have to walk."

"You saw me trying to fly after we escaped the forest." Ethan said with an exasperated sigh. "I was terrible. There's no way I could fly us both there in time. Besides, I can barely keep myself aloft -- so what makes you think I could carry you too?"