A Tale of Dragons

Chapter 3

"A resurrection spell? So I did die?"

He didn't want to think how his mother would react when they found his body. He would have found the idea of a resurrection spell preposterous an hour ago. However, since he currently inhabited the body of a dragon he let it go without comment.

"You fell asleep in a house full of poisonous gas." Alana said. "I'm pretty sure you died. And since it was natural causes -- and not magic -- even if a death shaman brought you back, your body couldn't keep you alive."

"We don't have death shamans where I come from." Ethan commented. "In fact, we don't have magic at all."

Alana laughed and shook her head as if he'd just made a funny joke. "Yes, and I'm sure you don't have air either."

"No really. I'm being serious." Ethan said. "Where I come from, magic is only found in stories. There is no magic."

Alana stopped and gave him an odd look. "But life can't exist without magic."

"Why not?" he asked.

She started walking again. They had almost reached a narrow path into the forest. The minute Alana stepped into the forest she started running her hands over the bark of trees and through the leaves of shrubs. She visibly relaxed once she was inside the forest. The path wasn't wide enough for them to walk next to each other, so Ethan fell in step behind her.

"Life is sustained by magic." She said. "Without magic, everything withers and dies. All living beings -- from the smallest insect to the largest animal -- instinctively draw magic from the Ether to survive."

"Okay, so what's the Ether?"

"It's the source of all magical energy. Simply by living, plants and animals draw magic from the Ether. They always draw slightly more than they need though, and leave the excess floating around. Magic users can collect this excess energy and store it within their bodies. They can then call upon it to power spells and enchantments."

"So it's just lying around for anyone to collect?" he asked.

"Sort of; that's the gist anyway."

"I suppose that makes sense,"

They walked in silence for a little while. Ethan kept looking to either side of the trail because his eyes were right at the level of her butt and he felt he was being creepy by constantly staring at it. Eventually, he got tired of constantly gazing around and stood up. He didn't exactly tower over her, but his height allowed him to see over the top of her head. Surprisingly, walking on two legs felt just as natural as walking on four.

"So what do you do?" he asked after walking in silence for a while.

"I grow trees for mages who want an enchanted staff." Alana said.

"Really?" he asked. "Is that hard?"

"Only if you want a truly exceptional staff." She said. "You'll see in a bit."

A few minutes' walk later, the path opened into a small clearing. In the center was what looked like a small cottage made from living trees. These had evidently been deliberately planted in a circle and had grown together to form a round, domed house. They all bent and leaned inward so that they formed a roof. After meeting together, the trunks had then grown upwards to form a large leafy canopy.

All around the cottage, in neat little rows, were trees in various stages of development. All of them had a few things in common though. They were perfectly straight, none looked wider than two inches, and none of them had branches except in the canopy, which looked impressive on all of them. With two quick cuts, the taller ones would make perfect staves up to 8 feet long.

Ethan let out a low whistle. "Nice."

"Thank you, I'm pretty proud of it myself." Alana said, and then led him inside the house.

The interior of the house smelled like earth, but not in a bad way. The rest of the inside reminded Ethan of his own apartment. It was spartan, with only a table, a couple of chairs and a shelf with food on it over on one wall. Further around, there were half a dozen staves lying flat on a shelf clearly made for that purpose. In another area an impressive-looking short bow and a quiver full of arrows leaned handily against the wall. There was a sunken fire pit in the center and a small bed nearby.

Alana made some dinner and they talked. It turned out she was one of the best staff makers in the land and her family had been doing it for over a hundred years. She asked Ethan about his home and he explained as best he could. She clearly didn't understand all of it, but she was very interested anyway.

"So you have carts with wings like a bird that can hold hundreds of people and still fly?" Alana looked puzzled. "But why use wings? Why not enchant the cart to reduce the weight, like on an airship?"

"We don't have magic, remember." Ethan replied. "And can you really enchant things to make them lighter?"

"Of course." Alana said. "It's often one of the first things that dragons do."

"Dragons can enchant things?" Ethan asked. Since he was a dragon...

Alana laughed. "Of course. Dragons are the undisputed masters of enchanting in this world, Ethan. No other creature can match their skill in enchanting. You didn't know that?"

"No." He shook his head.

Alana c****d her head to one side. "Really?"

"No magic in my world remember." Ethan said. "Just assume I know nothing about magic at all."

"Okay, I'll start at the beginning then. There are two kinds of magic: active and passive. Active magic is used in spells and these are usually cast in combat. Passive magic is called enchanting and improves the properties of something, usually something you wear or carry."

"For example." Alana stood up and indicated her green dress. "This dress is enchanted to be self-healing and self-cleaning. If you cut it, it repairs itself and over time it will clean itself too."

"Wow, that's pretty cool." He said.

Alana smiled and nodded. "Yes. Passive magic can also help the wearer physically, by increasing strength or enhancing the senses -- things like that. They can even be used to cause harm, like those paralysis cuffs that were slapped on me earlier."

"I'm with you so far." Ethan said. "Why are dragons masters of enchanting though?"

"Because you can't enchant something that's alive; only a dragon can do that." Alana answered. "Remember I said that all life draws magic from the Ether? That flow of magic through a living being makes it impossible to get an enchantment to stick. It's like trying to build a house in a raging river; you can't even get a foundation laid. That's why you enchant wood after it has been cut, because then it's not alive and will take the enchantment."

"Okay, so what makes dragons different?" he asked.

"Dragons don't draw magic directly from the Ether like most living things." She said. "Instead, when they're around gold they make it resonate and--"

"Alana!" A slightly squeaky voice shouted from outside.

The wood elf moved.

She reacted so fast that Ethan wasn't even aware she'd moved until she was halfway across the room. She grabbed her bow and whipped around toward the door. Ethan got up and peeked out into the darkening sky. The white-haired man from Drousin's cave was outside sitting on a horse. He was flanked by two others wearing long dark robes. Something about them made the scales on Ethan's neck stand up.

"What do you want, Hermair?" Alana appeared right beside Ethan at the door, but didn't leave the house. She had an arrow nocked on the bow, but it was pointing at the ground. She was ready, but not threatening

"I want that abomination." Called the white-haired man, pointing at Ethan.

"What did I do?" Ethan asked.

"I've consulted with Lord Delmar." Hermair said in his squeaky voice. "He has decreed that the soul of a man inside a dragon's body is an abomination that must be cleansed from this land."

Alana swore under her breath. "This man... er, dragon saved my life. I won't let you have him without a fight."

"You're making a big mistake." Hermair said, though the fact that he had pulled his horse back until he was shielded by the two robed riders made the effect comical rather than threatening.

"Why does this lord want me dead so badly?" Ethan asked.

"You are an abomination." Hermair replied as if it was obvious and no further information was needed.

"Yes, but why am I an abomination?" Ethan asked.

"Because Lord Delmar said you are." Hermair answered.

"Forget it." Alana said quietly so only Ethan could hear. "Lord Delmar has a fanatically loyal cult who practically worships him. In their minds, his word might as well come directly from God."

"The abomination must be purged." Hermair announced to Alana. "You can help us and be richly rewarded; or fight against us and suffer the dire consequences. I'll give you until noon tomorrow to either give up that abomination, or to put an arrow through its heart."

With that, Hermair turned and rode out of the clearing as fast as he could.

"Thank you." Ethan said once the riders had gone.

"You did the same for me."

"You know he won't wait until noon tomorrow, right?" Ethan mused.

Alana looked at him in alarm. "You really think so?"

He nodded. "I've dealt with middle management types like him for years. He seems like a bully, so I'd guess he'll get a bunch more men and come back as soon as possible for a surprise attack. Does he have more men close by?"

"Yes." She nodded. "Lord Delmar has am outpost nearby, to the west."

"How long would it take them to go there and come back?" he asked.

"Um." Alana paused, thinking. "If they rode their horses hard and got fresh ones at the compound, they could be back in a few hours."

Ethan looked at the sky, which was fast approaching dark. Without the lights of a city, it was well and truly dark too. Fortunately, the air was still pretty warm.

"I don't think you should stay in the house tonight." He said. "I didn't get the impression they'll be nice about trying to kill me, and they might torch it."

Alana swore. "If they start setting things on fire..." She looked around at the young trees.

"That's your livelihood, isn't it?" he asked.

She bit her lip then nodded.

"The fire won't hurt them too much, will it?" he continued hopefully.

"The trees might survive, but my staves only sell because they are the finest in the kingdom. If they are subjected to fire, they'll be average at best and I'll never be able to sell them. My family has been farming this land for a hundred years."

Ethan thought he saw her eyes get slightly watery. He hadn't noticed before, but they were a rich hazel color.