***This is a story that includes sex, not many sex scenes connected by story. It will happen, but not until it makes sense in the story. Also remember this: The course of true love never did run smooth.***

***

PROLOGUE

Ethan's ancient clock radio warbled the old country song. "You can spend your whole life building, Something from nothing, One storm can come and blow it all away, Build it anyway."

He grabbed the radio and threw it across the room so hard it broke open and spilled electronic components everywhere.

"What was that?" Ethan's mother asked over the phone.

"The radio was spouting lies and I couldn't take it anymore." He replied while trying in vain to keep his voice even.

"I know it looks bad right now, but I promise it'll get better." His mom repeated for what seemed like the hundredth time. "You couldn't have known."

"I should've known." He fumed and resumed his pacing. "She always liked him a lot."

"Honey, you can't--" she started, but Ethan cut her off.

"I don't want to talk about it right now." He said. "I just called to let you know the wedding is off so there's no point in you flying out tomorrow."

"We should anyway." She said. "What about your business? I thought you two were partners."

"Oh, that's the best part." Ethan curled his hands into a fist so tight it hurt. "They must've been planning this for a while because my name disappeared from a few key documents. He got a controlling interest and kicked me out."

Ethan aimed a kick at the nearest object. Unfortunately, it was his old gas stove and he kicked it so hard that it pulled away from the wall. Ethan winced as a sharp pain shot through his foot.

"But you started and built that business up from nothing..." She trailed off. "Your dad and I are flying out anyway."

"Well, I won't have a place for you to stay." Ethan flopped down in a recliner to get off his painful foot. "Almost all my money was in the company accounts and since he cut me out, I've got nothing. I won't make rent and it's due in a couple of days. You know what my landlord is like."

"I know this looks bad honey, but--"

"Please don't say it could be worse." Ethan cut her off. "Seeing as my fiancé ran off with my best friend and the business I spent the last decade building, I don't see how. I have to go."

"Okay." She said. "We'll be praying for you and we'll see you soon."

"Sure." He said and hung up. A tiny part of him felt guilty for the way he'd talked to his mother, but the train wreck of his life buried that part pretty well. He pulled the recliner back and winced as he elevated his foot. The old gas stove was still there, the dent in the side mocking him as it sat cock-eyed from its original position.

"If there's a God out there, can you please give me a fresh start?" he wished idly. "And while I'm asking for miracles, could I meet the perfect woman for me?"

He scoffed at the idiocy of what he'd just said then closed his eyes. He just wanted to sleep; to have this miserable day end. The last thing he remembered before he drifted off to sleep was the faint smell of gas in the air.

(idiot lmao)

CHAPTER 1

Ethan slowly returned to consciousness trying to remember a dream he'd been having. He had been hovering above his own body in his apartment, but everything had a strange purple color to it. He remembered seeing the gas pipe of his old stove was broken and then drifting upwards toward a bright light. After that his dream got very fuzzy.

He vaguely remembered seeing other people and creatures that looked like they were from another world. Everything was in that strange purple color and they were all drifting upwards toward the bright light together. And then there was a dragon,

And...

And...

Ethan tried to remember, but the dream was slipping from his head as he did so. He remembered something heading for the dragon. It had missed the dragon though and latched onto him instead. He'd felt a sharp pulling sensation, then nothing.

"That is not my son." A deep voice said right above Ethan.

"I did say it was a long shot." A squeaky voice responded from somewhere nearby. "I'm sorry I couldn't return your son to you my lord."

"It's no matter." The deep voice said. It sounded like he was yawning. "I can always find another mate."

Ethan groaned. He felt like someone had used his head for a punching bag. He tried to move, but his limbs didn't want to cooperate.

"What shall I do with this one?" the squeaky voice said and Ethan felt someone kick him in the... Well that was strange. It didn't feel like his legs, arms, torso or head. But someone had definitely kicked him somewhere.

Ethan opened an eye. He was going to open both eyes, but that would've taken a lot more work than he was willing to do. He was clearly inside some sort of cave. He could see the mouth in the near distance and the rock walls confirmed it. He glanced around and that's when he noticed something was attached to his face. It looked like someone had put one of those fake wolf snouts over his nose, but with small scales covering the surface.

"I don't care what you do with him." The deep voice said. "You may dispose of him and drain the magic to replenish your reserves."

Ethan's eye snapped open. Despite feeling like someone had turned his limbs into jelly, he summoned a massive effort and raised himself up on all fours. It felt surprisingly natural.

"Wait a minute." Ethan managed to say. Talking felt weird. His mouth and tongue seemed a different shape.

"He wakes!" the squeaky voice said.

Ethan turned his head and saw the strangest person that he had ever seen. He had thin white hair and a frail body that made him look like he was on death's doorstep. But in his eyes Ethan saw vigor, cunning, and coldness. He was wearing a simple robe and clung to a wooden staff inscribed with strange runes.

"Indeed." Said the deep voice.

Ethan turned his head toward the deep voice and his jaw dropped. He was looking at a dragon -- a real, live, speaking, talking and breathing DRAGON.

The dragon was at least 50 feet long and must've weighed several tons. Its head alone was easily the size of a full grown man. Each of its four legs was as thick as a small tree trunk, with claws that could grasp a full grown man easily. It had massive, bat-like wings that probably had a greater wingspan than the body's considerable length. The dragon's head towered at least ten feet over Ethan. Ethan just stood there and stared for a moment.

"It's not polite to stare." The dragon said in its deep rumbling voice.

Ethan looked away. "I'm sorry. I've just never seen a dragon before."

The dragon sighed. "Perhaps you should look at your reflection."

"Huh?" said Ethan. He had a habit of running his hands through his hair when he was confused and tried to do so now... but he didn't have any hair. Instead he felt two horns on the back of his head. And he didn't just feel the horns with his hands,he could feel his hands with the horns.

Then he looked at his hand and his jaw dropped.

It looked exactly like the dragon's claws, except much, much smaller. He had only three fingers and they were covered with hundreds of small scales. He still had a thumb, but it was directly opposite the fingers.

Ethan looked down to discover he looked exactly like the dragon before him -- except in miniature. He would be about 5' 7" tall if he stood on his hind legs, and weighed around 160-170 pounds. He had the same dark gray scales, his rear legs had a hock joint like a dog or cat, and the same... Ethan blinked.

He had wings.

They were folded against his back, but he could see and feel them. They sprang from his shoulder blades and when he tried to open them, they obeyed like any other limb. They looked exactly like bat wings, even down to the single hook-like claw on the leading edge of the wing.

Ethan turned to look at them closely and then felt his tail drag slightly on the ground. It was about five feet long and ended in a wide, flat diamond shape. He tried moving it around and, surprisingly, it felt as natural as moving his arms.

"I have a tail." Ethan wondered aloud

"You weren't a dragon before?" the old man with the squeaky voice said.

"Nope, just a regular guy."

"Curious, very curious." The old man stared intently at Ethan for a few moments before turning to the dragon. "I shall take my leave my lord."

"As you wish." The dragon waved his wing lazily towards a far corner of the room. "Just don't forget your spare sacrifice."

Ethan whipped his head around to look into the corner of the room. There, lying unconscious on the ground, was a woman.

"She's too much trouble to bring home." The old man said as he walked out of the cave. "Consider her a gift for dinner." He turned at the cave entrance and walked out of sight.

"Dinner?" Ethan asked.

The dragon looked at the woman and licked his lips.

"You can't be serious!"

"Why not?" the dragon asked. "Wood elves are a tasty treat and I haven't ventured out of this cave for meat in... Oh, almost twenty years."

The dragon took a step toward the woman. Ethan, though he was still unsteady on his feet, bounded over to her so he was between them. He wasn't sure what he could do because the dragon's feet were larger than his torso. However, he couldn't just sit back and watch a woman be eaten alive.

"You can't do that."

The dragon stopped and flopped down in front of Ethan. Behind the dragon was an immense pile of gold dotted with silver and precious stones. The sight took Ethan's breath away. Something in him felt pulled towards the gold. Itcalled to him. Ethan could almost feel the gold and it was brimming with... something. Something powerful, something that Ethan really wanted.

"Eyes up boy." The dragon said in a bored tone. "I'll forgive the lust in your eyes because of your youth. But if you touch a single piece of that gold I'll tear you limb from limb."

The dragon didn't seem mad or angry, just bored and letting Ethan know the natural consequences of messing with his gold.

"Why do you care about the elf?" The dragon asked.

"Because murder is wrong."

"Right, wrong. It's all the same thing." The dragon said with a sigh. "I've lived a lot longer than you whelp. When you get to my age you learn that there are no absolutes."

Ethan smiled -- to his surprise he still could -- as a plan formed in his mind. "Would you care to bet on that?"

"Oh?" For the first time, the dragon didn't seem completely bored.

"Here are the terms." Ethan said. "If I can prove beyond a doubt that absolutes exist, then you release the woman and swear to never hurt her again."

"And when you fail?"

"Um, what do you want?"

The dragon tapped its immense talons on the floor of the cave. It suddenly occurred to Ethan that this dragon was many times his size and could do whatever he wanted.

The dragon spoke after a moment of deliberation. "If you fail to prove there are absolutes by sunset, then you must surrender all of the gold in your crop and watch me eat the elf."

"What's a crop?" Ethan asked.

The dragon shook its massive head and looked disgusted, "You would challenge me to a battle of wits when you are unarmed? Foolish whelp."

The dragon shook its head again. "Your crop is a small pouch in your gullet. Dragons typically swallow some gold and store it there so they always have some nearby."

Ethan barely remembered a biology lesson about chickens that described something similar. It was a sort of pouch in their throat or stomach that held food before it was digested. Ethan touched his stomach and could feel something beneath his skin and scales. He hadn't noticed it before, but it called to him like the pile of gold, though there couldn't be more than a few coins in his crop.

"Do we have a deal?"

"Deal." Ethan replied.

"Then prove it." The dragon commanded.

"You said that there are no absolutes, correct?" Ethan asked. The dragon nodded, so Ethan continued, "Then I have just one question: are youabsolutely sure there are no absolutes?"

The dragon blinked several times, opened its mouth to respond then closed it again. The dragon then cocked its head to one side for a few moments, opened its mouth to answer, and then closed it again.

"Here's the problem." Ethan said. "Saying there are no absolutes is an absolute statement. Even if you were right, you would be wrong because you are contradicting yourself."

The dragon rested its head on it forelegs for several minutes before responding. "Well done boy, though perhaps I should not call you boy anymore. Very well, take the wood elf and go. I should like you to come back though. I might enjoy conversing on this topic further."

Ethan nodded.

Only then did it occur to him that he'd spent the entire conversation standing on all four of his legs. It felt remarkably comfortable and natural considering he hadn't had four legs for a whole hour yet. He stood up on his hind legs like he was used to doing, and that felt perfectly natural too.

The dragon waved his hand in the direction of the woman. Ethan felt...something pass through the air. He wasn't sure what it was, but it made his scales stand up on end. Moments later he heard the sound of a lock clinking and the woman immediately stood up.

Apparently she wasn't unconscious.

"Blasted paralysis cuffs!" the woman said as she shook the leather restraints off, kicked them for good measure, and then whirled to face the dragon. "By Ithlan, how could you, Drousin?"

The dragon shrugged. "I was hungry."

"Two years!" She shouted. "We've been talking for two years! And all of a sudden I'm on the dinner menu! You don't even need to eat with all that gold! You said so yourself!"

The woman marched up to the dragon -- Drousin -- and poked her finger at his paw. The paw was arguably larger than she was and she was only a few feet from his mouth. His jaws were so big he probably could have swallowed her whole.

"I demand an explanation." She said.

"I was hungry." The dragon shrugged again. "Now leave before I get hungry again. Right now, I feel like taking a nap."

And with that, Drousin turned, lumbered slowly back to his pile of gold, flopped down on it and closed his eyes. Moments later, the sound of snoring began echoing through the chamber.

The woman stood glaring at the sleeping dragon for almost a whole minute. If this had been a cartoon, Ethan was sure there would be steam rising from her head. Finally, she turned around to look at him.

She was tiny.

She about five feet tall and couldn't weigh an ounce over a hundred pounds. Her hair was a rich, chocolate-brown in color and fell to her mid-back. Her eyes were almond shaped and her ears were several inches long and ended in points. She was wearing a knee-length green dress made from cloth, although it looked like leaves.

There was something very wild about this girl, though woman might've been a better term. She was clearly young, or at least she looked young. He wasn't sure how that worked for wood elves. It was just starting to sink into Ethan's head that he'd just matched wits with a dragon for the life of a wood elf.

"Thank you. My name is Alana."

"Hi, I'm Ethan." He held out his hand -- his three fingered hand, covered in scales.

Alana gave him a quizzical look.

"Sorry, it's just how we say hello where I'm from." Ethan said and dropped his hand.

"I suggest we leave this fouls worm's lair before he wakes up and changes his mind about dinner." Alana said with a scowl and a dirty look in Drousin's direction.

Ethan nodded and they walked in silence to the mouth of the cave. On the way out, he noticed several charred human skeletons. One of them was still smoking slightly. He decided not to ask about them.

They reached the mouth of the cave and he looked around. They were about a hundred yards up the side of a large hill, and below them a forest stretched out for many miles. The sky was a cloudless blue and judging by the position of the sun it was midafternoon. The air was warm, the leaves were green, and the birds were singing, so Ethan guessed it must be spring.

"Thank you again." Alana said. "Few people would risk their lives for a total stranger, and until today I would never have thought a dragon would be one of them."

"You're welcome. But that dragon didn't really seem interested in killing me, so I'm not sure I risked my life."

Alana looked at him as if he had just told her that the sky was neon green. "I meant he would take the gold in your crop."

He could feel it. It wasn't much, but he could feel some kind of power emanating from it. It made his blood stir, and he realized he would have found it very hard to give the gold up if the dragon had won the bet and demanded it.

He turned to Alana. "Why would giving up the gold be risking my life?"

Alana gave him that same confused look again. "I don't mean to be rude, but don't you know anything about your own kind?"

"Not really." Ethan looked down at his clearly draconic form and couldn't help but smile at the irony.

"From what land do you hail?" she asked. "For dragons go wherever there is gold, and I can't imagine a world blessed enough to be without them."

"I'm from..." he thought back to his life on Earth. Strange, it probably wasn't an hour ago, but somehow it felt like such a long time. "I'm from a long way away I think. Maybe another solar system?"

"What's a solar system?" Alana asked, and then glanced back into the cave. "Perhaps we should find a safer place to have this chat. Perhaps my house? It's only a couple of miles away and dinner is the least I can offer for the dragon that saved my life."

"Sounds good, please lead on." Ethan said, noticing for the first time that he was actually quite hungry. Alana started walking and he dropped to all fours to walk beside her. His head was now about level with her hips.

"So where are you from?" she asked.

"I'm from Earth."

"You came from... the ground?" Alana gave him another confused look.

"No, I mean I'm from another planet. I think."

"What's a planet?"

"It's a..." he started, but trailed off. How did you explain that in a few words?

"Okay, let's try a different question." She offered. "How did you get here?"

Ethan told her what had happened, but left out exactly why he had been so angry. He also relayed his dream to her, though it didn't seem so much like a dream anymore. Alana was confused about why he had a pipe in his house filled with something that could kill him, but otherwise listened without comment.

"You saw the skeletons in the cave?" she asked when he had finished.

"Yup."

"Those were dragon hunters after Drousin's gold. They used magic to kill Drousin's son in the attack. It sounds like he called a death shaman to try a resurrection spell on his son. Instead of getting his son, he must've gotten you. It's strange, I've never heard of a human soul entering a dragon's body."

"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 cocked 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.

"Maybe it won't happen." He suggested. "But I think we should be ready if they come back."

Alana nodded. "I have several staves that are ready to sell and a hidden storage pit not far away. I doubt they know about it. I can store them there for tonight."

"How about harvesting some of these early?" Ethan gestured at the trees outside the door.

She shook her head. "They're not ready, but we should be. And thank you."

"Why are you thanking me?" he asked. "They might destroy your farm because of me."

"It's not your fault." Alana said. "I'd be dead if you hadn't saved me from Drousin and you warned me Hermair might attack tonight, which I probably wouldn't have thought of. That's twice I owe you my life. So thank you."

"Any time."

* * *

Over the next hour, Ethan and Alana moved all her valuables out of the house. There weren't many of them. They stashed the goods in the concealed storage pit Alana had in the woods nearby.

Some hours later, Ethan and Alana had taken up position in the forest close to the edge of the clearing. The moon was out, but the darkness made them almost invisible. Ethan was pleasantly surprised to discover that dragons had good night vision and he could see very well at night. They had a great view of the entire clearing, and they waited.

After an hour, Ethan saw movement. He tapped Alana's shoulder and pointed. There were two men dressed in black sneaking through the clearing toward the house. They were carrying what looked like buckets. They started pouring something all around the base of her house and a few minutes later stole back out of the clearing. Moments later they saw a little fire spark to life some distance away, then a flaming arrow landed at the base of Alana's house.

The house burst into flame almost instantly.

At the same time, a dozen or so men ran into the clearing and took up positions outside the entrance of Alana's burning house. Several of the men took up what looked like Molotov cocktails, threw them inside the house, and waited.

After a few minutes, Hermair called out. "They're gone. Fan out and search the forest, and destroy her trees while you're at it."

The men pulled out torches, lit them in the burning fire of the house, and started to fan out into the woods. Along the way, they drew their swords and started hacking at Alana's trees. Alana sniffled and Ethan could almost feel her tension

"We should go before they find us." Ethan whispered. Alana nodded in reply and they turned to head back into the forest.

Behind them, the fire suddenly dimmed. Ethan looked behind him and saw something very strange. The fires were as large as ever, but it was almost as if someone had sucked the light from the flames themselves. They were massive, but gave very little light.

Then one of the men on horseback extended his palm and a bright beam of flickering yellowish light shone from his palm. He quickly directed the light across the edge of the clearing until Ethan and Alana were lit up like a Christmas tree.

"There!" Hermair shouted, and his soldiers began running toward them.

"Run!" Ethan shouted to Alana. He heard the sound of bowstrings and moments later Alana cried out in pain as an arrow grazed her arm.

Something welled up inside Ethan.

An anger he had never felt before filled his mind. It was deep, primal, and he felt it to his very bones. He opened his mouth to shout at the men who were attacking them.

Moment later, the whole clearing was filled with the most terrifying sound he had ever heard. It was the roar of great beast that chilled him to the very bone. He could feel his heart freezing in his chest and his muscles refused to move. The soldiers in the clearing faltered in their advance. Some of them cowered behind their shields. Ethan could see the sheer terror that sound instilled in them.

He was sure his own face mirrored theirs.

Ethan drew breath and the sound disappeared. It was only a moment later that he realized: the roar came from him. His rage bubbled over; he dropped to all fours and charged them. He was moving faster than he thought possible; doing at least twenty miles per hour.

He reached the first solder in just a few seconds. The soldier was still rooted to the spot. Ethan leapt at him and landed feet first into his torso. The man crumpled and Ethan -- acting purely on instinct -- took a flying leap toward the mage who was shining the light. The mage dived off his horse but he wasn't fast enough. Ethan felt his claws sink into something soft, followed by a ripping sound and a cry of pain. Ethan landed on his feet beyond the horse. The frantic animal took off at top speed in the opposite direction.

The soldiers seemed to have recovered and turned to face the new threat.

"Run Ethan!" He heard Alana shout.

Ethan saw half a dozen bows pointing in his direction and ran for cover behind the burning house. Halfway there he felt a burning pain in his hind leg and fell forward. He rolled several times, which fortunately put the burning house in between him and the archers.

He looked down at his leg and saw a broken arrow sticking out of his thigh. The arrow had punched right through his scales and made moving the leg feel like he was stabbing himself with a branding iron. Fortunately though, it didn't seem to have hit the bone and he could still move.

Ethan dragged himself to his feet, despite the pain, as the soldiers rounded the house. He had just started limping away when the soldiers drew their bows back. He threw himself forward and the arrows missed his body, although a sharp pain in his tail let him know they had hadn't missed entirely.

Ethan heard the twang of another bowstring and winced, expecting pain. However, the cry of pain came from someone else. One of the soldiers fell with an arrow sticking through his chest. Moments later another fell, and then another.

"Get out of there, Ethan." Alana shouted. He could just see her nocking another arrow. She let it loose before ducking behind a tree as the soldiers returned fire. Ethan ignored the pain and ran flat out toward Alana.

Again the fire behind him dimmed. Ethan glanced behind and was shocked to see the fires burning incredibly low, as if someone had sucked them away with a vacuum. Then he saw a red glowing ball in the hand of the other mage. The mage extended his hand and the fiery ball of light shot toward Ethan. He was moving too fast to dodge it so he did the only thing he could think of.

He jumped.

The red-hot fireball hit the ground below him and exploded. Ethan was blasted up at least twenty feet into the air and his momentum carried him forward. On instinct, he twisted in mid-air like a cat and almost managed to land on his feet, but failed the landing because of the burning pain in his leg. He tumbled and rolled to the edge of the forest.

"Ethan, get up!" Alana yelled.

Ethan felt another arrow graze his back, which gave him the necessary motivation to move, despite the pain. He limped into the forest to join Alana. She fired another few arrows -- a cry of pain echoing from a soldier after each one -- then headed straight into the forest. Ethan tried to follow her, but he was in incredible pain and could barely keep up.

Alana never left him behind though.

Every time he slowed down, she did too.

She urged him on, but wouldn't leave him.

After about ten minutes, he couldn't hear their pursuers anymore and Alana stopped. "Humans can't see well in the dark. I think we can stop here for a moment."

Ethan dropped like a ton of bricks. He felt mentally and physically drained. The arrows in his tail and leg were making it hard to do anything but whimper in pain. "Are... are you sure we'll... we'll be okay?"

"Yeah, humans have terrible night vision." Alana said, then knelt down by his head and looked him in the eye. "I need to take those arrows out or the wounds will get infected. I don't have anything to cauterize the wounds, so you'll need to use magic to close and disinfect them."

"Never used..." Ethan panted. "...it before."

"You're a dragon." Alana said calmly. "Dragons have an innate command of magic. And besides, if you don't you're going to die."

"Dying sounds like a bad idea." He groaned. "I'll do my best."

"Roll over on your back so I can take a look." She said after moving to his leg. Ethan did, though it felt like his leg and tail were going to fall off. At this point, he almost would've been okay with that.

"The heads broke off while you were running, so I just need to pull them out." Alana said. "On the count of three. One, two, three!"

Ethan felt like someone had just dipped his leg in molten lava. He kicked out in reflex and felt his leg connect with something; something that was soft and felt like a hundred pound wood elf.

"Sorry." Ethan said through gritted teeth. Moments later he felt something hit his gut. Hard. Something he guessed was the foot of the same hundred pound wood elf.

"Ethan." Alana hissed into his ear. "If you do that when I pull the arrow out of your tail, I'm going put them back in."

"I'm sorry Alana, I didn't mean to..." Ethan trailed off as Alana came into view. She had a dragon-foot-shaped mud stamp on her cheek. He couldn't help himself. He started laughing -- quietly -- but he was laughing.

Alana had a look on her face halfway between anger and amusement. Finally, she seemed to settle on amusement and started chuckling too.

"What... what are we laughing about?" Ethan asked.

"I don't... I don't know." She managed to say, despite clutching her sides and trying hard not to laugh loudly. "My entire life is gone and..." It happened in an instant. Alana's face changed as the enormity of her own words hit her. Tears welled up in her eyes.

"My entire life is gone." She looked away from him and sniffled. "I'm sorry."

"I just kicked you in the face and you're apologizing." Ethan said. "I basically just cost you your entire life, I'm sorry."

Alana tried wiping her eyes while still averting them from him. "I'm sorry. I don't know what's... I'll be okay in a minute."

Ethan grimaced as he pulled himself forward with one arm. With the other hand he reached up and pulled Alana into a rather awkward hug. It was awkward because she was kneeling and he was still lying down. Alana resisted for a fraction of a second, and then just collapsed onto Ethan's shoulder. As she lay there crying quietly, Ethan felt an enormous weight of guilt press down on him.

After about a minute, Ethan couldn't take it. "I'm sorry I cost you your home."

Alana pulled herself together long enough to sit up. Then she drew back and glared at him.

"What?"

"Don't you ever blame yourself for that again." She said. The trail of tears on her face glistened in the moonlight, but her eyes were set in stone. "You didn't do anything except save my life. The problem is Lord Delmar, not you. He sent those men, not you. They torched my home and trees, not you. You charged over a dozen men in a stupid attempt to distract them so I could escape. You don't need to apologize at all."

He smiled slightly. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." She wiped the rest of the tears out of her eyes. "Now hold still while I get this other arrow out."

A few painful moments later, Ethan was mercifully free of arrows and Alana sighed, "Well, the bleeding isn't too bad, but you'll need to close these wounds with magic or they'll get infected."

Ethan flexed his leg and tail. Without the arrows it was a lot less painful. "So how do I use magic?"

"Magic responds to life, especially to its will. Inside your own body it's fairly easy, but it can be very draining."

"I'll take drain over pain."

"Okay." She continued. "Like I said before, all living things pull magic from the Ether. Magic users store this inside their own bodies. When magic is stored inside a body, we call it mana. Can you feel it in your body?"

"I hate abstracts, but I'll try." Ethan closed his eyes and tried to pay close attention to his own body. He was expecting to find nothing like what she had described, but he was pleasantly surprised. "I can feel it. It's like... liquid power or gas rolling around inside me."

"Good." Alana said. "That was the easy part. Mana responds to your willpower more than anything else. Now, try to move it around with your mind."

Ethan did, but it didn't seem to be paying attention. It reminded him of an ice slushy or a cloud. It was lumpy and when he tried to touch it parted before him and closed up behind.

"It won't budge."

"It usually takes years of practice." Alana noted. "Normally I'd say you were screwed, but you're a dragon. A dragon's command of magic is far more instinctive than other creatures. Give it a try and go with your gut."

Ethan hurled all his willpower at the slushy mana cloud, but it barely moved. After several minutes of trying, he still hadn't moved any part of it.

"Yeah, it's not paying attention." Ethan sighed.

"Are you trying to move the whole thing, or just part of it?" Alana asked. "It's a lot harder to move a lake than a bucket of water."

Ethan closed his eyes again and focused on just a tiny portion of the cloud. It wiggled slightly, but went no further. He threw all his willpower at it and very slowly, it started to move. It was painfully slow, like watching molasses pour in winter. He let up for a moment to relax his brain, and the mana seemed to slide back into place.

"I'm screwed." He announced.

"No you're not. Thank Illuminar they were using bodkin arrows, so the wounds are pretty small and the arrows only hit muscle. There's no organ damage and the biggest risk is infection. Focus, I'm not going to let you die like an animal tonight. Now get moving or I'll give you a few more holes to practice on." Alana picked up her bow and waved it in a semi-threatening manner, but winked.

"Yes ma'am." Ethan grinned. He didn't think she was serious, but his cheek still hurt from her slap. He looked at the wound on his leg. It had stopped bleeding, and was about a half inch in diameter.

"You can do this; I closed my arrow wound while we were running." Alana turned around and Ethan could see a trail of blood where the arrow had grazed her arm. However, he couldn't see a wound even though he'd seen her get hit. There was some dried blood, but no cut.

"Focus on the mana right next to your leg wound." She encouraged. "In your mind's eye, force it to close the wound and it will do so."

Ethan nodded and tried again. He focused on the mana cloud near his leg and pushed with all his might. Instantly, pain shot up and down his leg from the wound. He strangled a cry in his throat and instantly stopped pushing the mana.

"You pushed the mana into the wound instead of focusing on closing the wound didn't you?" Alana said.

Ethan swore. "You could've warned me."

"And then I would've put the idea in your head." She said. "Now try again. We don't have all night."

He closed his eyes and focused on the throbbing hole in his leg. With all his might he willed the mana cloud to close the wound. He could feel it move and there was no pain, but it was moving even slower than before. Ethan doubled down on mental pressure trying to force the wound to close.

"I... I can't..." He was panting after several minutes of trying. "It's too hard."

"You're already halfway there." Alana said. "Look."

Ethan twisted his head around to look at the hole in his leg. It was definitely smaller. It was about a half inch in diameter the last time he had looked, but now it had shrunk to only a quarter inch.

"Holy mother of..." Ethan's jaw dropped. "I did that?"

Alana nodded. "You absolutely did. How much mana do you have left?"

Ethan closed his eyes to look at the slushy mana cloud. Whereas before it had seemed to fill his whole body, it was much less dense now. It was less like a slushy and more like a cloud, and was certainly less substantial. Despite that, it seemed less inclined to move, not more.

"I think I used maybe a quarter of it? I think?"

Alana glanced at his wounds then stood up. "Good, then you should be able to do the rest yourself. I recommend you climb a tree and finish healing."

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I'm going to get the staves we stashed, along with a few provisions and food." She said. "If you climb a tree and finish healing, I'll be back in about twenty minutes."

"I can't climb a tree like this." Ethan pointed to his leg.

Alana rolled her eyes. "Look, young dragons are basically like cougars with wings, scales, and magic. Cougars can climb trees just as well as any other cat. You have claws and absolutely can climb a tree. You don't even need both legs to do it. Go on, give it a try."

Ethan got up on three legs and limped to the nearest tree. It was about two feet in diameter and looked sturdy. He reached up and hooked his claws on the tree. They seemed to hold well, so he did a half jump and hooked the claws of his good hind leg into the tree as well. He pushed off with his hind leg, grabbed higher with his arms, then pulled his hind leg up just like a cat.

It was easy.

Really easy.

In a few seconds, he was twelve feet in the air and lying down on a thick branch. His leg and tail still hurt, but at least he wouldn't be discovered too easily up there.

"Well done." Alana smiled. "I'll be back soon."

With that, she turned and darted off through the forest making barely a sound. Ethan hooked his foreclaws around the branch for good measure, and then started healing his leg again. It didn't get any easier as his mana pool slowly drained away.

* * *

Alana darted through the forest like a panther on a mission. She made almost no sound despite running at a good pace. She could've gone faster of course, but stealth was of the essence. Most people would have got lost running through a forest at night, but she wasn't most people -- and this was her forest.

She knew every single tree.

In just a few minutes, she started seeing the glow of torches in the distance. The fools were trying to find a wood elf in the woods at night. She almost felt sorry for them wasting so much time. It took her less than a minute to slip past them.

She still had her bow and was tempted to eliminate a few more of them. She wavered for a few moments before deciding she didn't have the heart to kill anyone in cold blood. Instead, she headed for her storage pit.

Her mind turned to Ethan as she ran. He was extremely confusing for a dragon. Other than her parents, she couldn't think of anyone who might throw themselves at a dozen armed men -- plus mages -- just to distract them so she could get away. She tried to figure out why, but couldn't. Especially when she took into account how he had stood up to Drousin to save her.

He didn't make any sense.

She thought in circles for a few minutes until she came to her storage pit. She had concealed it so well that even she wouldn't have seen if she didn't know it was there. She allowed herself a satisfied grin before opening the trapdoor.

Thirty seconds later she had her travel bag, a depressingly light coin purse, and seven finished staffs that were tied together with leather straps. It had been a good crop and each would fetch a good price. That was enough money for a few months, but after that? She briefly considered grabbing her father's spear, but couldn't really carry that and the staves.

Alana glanced back the way she had come and curiosity got the better of her. She stole toward the bright fire that was her old house, knowing she could replace the house if only they had left her beautiful trees. When she reached the edge of the clearing, she wished she hadn't looked.

The soldiers had cut down every single tree.

All of her hard work for the last decade, and her parent's legacy, was gone. She had seeds in her travel bag and could replant, but the first trees wouldn't be ready for a years. She stole away trying to fight back the tears.

It took her twice as long to get back to where she had left Ethan. When she reached the spot, he wasn't in the tree anymore.

"Ethan?" she called softly once she arrived.

There was no response.

"Ethan?" she called a little louder.

Still nothing.

Alana walked to the tree to see if he had left any footprints, but there were none. She scanned the nearby trees but could not see him anywhere.

'It's okay, he's okay,' she thought. 'The solders haven't got this far yet and nothing in the woods would attack a dragon, even a younger dragon like Ethan.'

Alana walked to the closest tree, again looking for footprints, but couldn't find any there either. Her stomach started tying itself up in knots. What if something had happened to him?

She was about to start biting her nails when something brushed the back of her shoulder. She whipped around just in time to see Ethan's tail lift up out of sight. She looked up and there he was, sitting there with a mischievous grin on his face. She was also pleased to see he had finished closing his wounds, although he looked like death warmed over.

"Are you done playing?" Alana asked, though she couldn't help but smile.

Ethan nodded and hopped down from the tree. "Where to next? I'm wiped out."

"I know a place nearby where we can sleep for the night. It should only take a few minutes to get there."

Lead on." Ethan fell into step behind her.

Some five minutes later, Alana led them to a river bed that that was mostly dry -- except for a creek-sized stream -- and hopped down the five foot drop to the riverbed.

"In here." She pulled aside some hanging vines to reveal a very small earthen cave or dugout. It was only about two feet high and about four feet deep, and it was just long enough for Ethan if he tucked up his tail a little. At least it was enough to conceal them both until morning.

"Ladies first." He said.

Alana crawled into the dugout and he followed behind her. She noticed he checked several times to make sure his body was between her and the creek bed and that he completely shielded her from view.

They lay there in silence for several minutes before Alana spoke. "Why did you want me to go in first?"

Ethan shrugged. "I just figured my scales could take a hit better than your skin if they found us while we were sleeping. Better me than you right?"

She said nothing for several more minutes. "Why did you save me from Drousin and charge those guards earlier? I've been trying to make sense of it and I can't?"

He mumbled something she couldn't hear. He was clearly very tired.

"Ethan." She repeated. "Why did you help me escape Drousin, and later try to distract those soldiers so I could get away?"

"Was right thing to do." He mumbled sleepily, but didn't elaborate.

She lay there for several minutes pondering his answer. She had never met anyone like him before. That was the last thought in her head before she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Ethan drifted back to consciousness slowly. He was lying on his back and there was a warm weight draped across half his chest. He smiled.

"Morning Terry." He mumbled.

The weight on his chest stirred and a sleepy feminine voice said. "Who's Terry?"

Ethan was momentarily confused, and then the previous day came back to him in a rush. His eyes snapped open and the weight abruptly disappeared from his chest.

"Ow." Alana moaned. She had wrenched herself off him so fast she hit her head on the low roof of the earthen dugout. Her chocolate brown hair was a complete mess, but she actually looked good that way. She was rubbing the sleep from her almond-shaped eyes.

"Morning." He repeated.

"Morning." Alana yawned a reply. "Who's Terry?"

"She's... Well, she was my... Uh, never mind." He trailed off and looked away from her. He didn't want to think about his ex at all, so he looked out of the dugout to distract himself instead. The sun was clearly up, but judging from the shadows on the creek bed it was shortly after sunrise. Ethan listened for a moment, but didn't hear any sign of the soldiers pursuing them.

"I'm going to stretch my legs, back in a minute." He said, rolling onto his legs -- all four of them. As he walked about, he marveled at just how natural if felt to be walking on all fours. He felt as if he'd been doing it for a lifetime, not a day. He walked over to the creek and looked into a puddle of water.

The face staring back at him didn't look at all familiar.

His face didn't seem particularly reptilian, looking more like a cross between a wolf and a large cat, but with steel gray scales covering everything. His nostrils were slits and his ears where smaller, but otherwise he didn't look much like any reptile he'd seen. Growing out of the back of his head were two horns that gently spiraled like an African antelope -- a kudu -- only straighter.

Taking care not to step in the water and disturb his reflection, Ethan moved so he could see the rest of his body. Except for the scales, he was again reminded more of a large cat or wolf than a reptile. His tail was another story. It was almost as long as his body, though it felt quite light and flexible, ending parallel to the ground in a flat diamond shape.

His wings had all but disappeared against his back. He opened them to get a better look and wasn't disappointed. They looked almost exactly like bat wings, although the 'arm' part was also covered in scales. The membrane of the wings looked just like skin, the top a steel gray color and underneath a much lighter gray-blue. The membrane stretched from his shoulders down to just below his hip.

The 'arm' part of the wing terminated in a single 'finger' that ended in a hooked claw. He remembered seeing bats at the zoo using their wing claws and feet to climb upside-down along tree branches and vines. Glancing at his hind legs, he realized they were almost the same as his front legs and could grab things. He wondered if he could climb upside down along branches too.

His hands and feet had three forward facing claws and one facing back, similar to those of an eagle, although he had discovered that his claws were retractable. He flexed his hands and two-inch claws slid out of their sheaths, each ending in a wicked looking point which almost scared him just looking at them.

"If you hadn't just got that body, I'd say you were pretty vain." Alana chuckled.

"I never had the chance to examine a dragon up close before." He replied. "I didn't want to waste it."

Alana laughed. "Well, I need to water the forest; back in a few moments."

"Good idea." He replied, realizing his bladder was full too. He walked around the nearest large tree and out of habit stood up to relieve himself.

When he looked down, he realized his 'equipment' was missing. He was about to get worried when -- almost by instinct -- he felt something shift. He could feel some internal muscles contract and the scales around his groin area pulled back to let his cock and balls meet the air.

What shocked Ethan wasn't that they were protected -- although he approved of that idea -- but rather the size. His cock was at least six inches long and quite thick even while flaccid. He found himself wondering how large it would be fully aroused. After he'd finished relieving himself, his cock and balls retracted themselves to once again be hidden by his scales.

He got back to the creek bed before his companion and started thinking about his situation while he waited. The longer he thought, the more concerned he became.

"Let's get some breakfast before heading out." Alana suggested after returning and fetching her bundle of staves from the dugout. She pulled some dried strips of meat and a few vegetables from her bag and offered some to him.

"Thank you. Where are we going?"

"Away from the men who are trying to kill us." Alana said with a twinkle in her eye. "They shot you last night remember?"

"I remember." Ethan rolled his eyes. "But I meant long term. I literally have nothing here and no idea where we are or where I should go. They destroyed your farm, although I assume you'll want to rebuild it."

"I don't know." She said as she finished chewing, and then hastily clarified. "If I want to rebuild that is. I loved that house because I shared it with my parents and had many happy times; but they're not there anymore. I always assumed I would grow staves because it's all I've ever known. But now..."

She trailed off.

"So, what do you want to do?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. I know almost every tree in this forest, but I've only ever visited one city. I don't even know what's out there."

"Me neither." Ethan said. "Well, how about the immediate future? Have any good ideas where to go?"

"Gralden."

"Gesundheit."

"Where's that?" Alana asked. "Is it closer?"

He suppressed a chuckle. "I'm being silly. What's Gralden?"

"It's a city, and home to one of the largest banks in the entire land. It's a three day walk from here, but most of that is over open road. We're only about a few hours' walk from the edge of the forest."

"I don't fancy our chances out in the open." He said. "Any other options?"

"Not without a map." She replied. "How's your mana?"

Ethan closed his eyes to check. He had used up most of his slushy mana cloud healing the previous night and it had shrunk to a mere fraction of its original size. It hadn't regenerated overnight much, if at all. It was still a mostly gaseous cloud with little substance at all.

"It's about the same as last night." Ethan replied "I thought you said magic users could pick up residual magic from the air."

"All magic users except dragons." She explained. "Dragons can't pull magic directly from the Ether. Instead, they collect gold and make it resonate. When the gold resonates, it pulls Ether through the barrier."

"What barrier?"

"There's a barrier between the Ether and our world." Alana explained. "Think of it like a very fine mesh that only allows tiny amounts of Ether to go through. When the gold resonates, it's like shaking a strainer to let more water through. Dragons collect this magic, and it's almost impossible for them to get it any other way."

"So I need gold to use collect magic." He said. "And I only have a tiny bit of gold in my little dragon crop thingy, which is why I can't recharge my mana very fast."

"Exactly, that's why dragons collect and hoard gold." She said, taking another bite.

"Wow." Ethan said. "I didn't realize that dragons had such a raw deal."

"They don't." She replied. "Remember when I said you can't enchant living things, because the flow of mana makes it impossible to get the enchantment to stick?"

"Yeah. You said it was like trying to build a house in the middle of a raging river."

Alana smiled. "You were paying attention. And yes, but dragons aren't like that. Because dragons don't pull magic directly from the Ether, they don't have that constant flow."

"So, you can enchant a Dragon?"

"I can't, but a dragon can enchant himself. Meaning you can use magic to directly augment almost any part of your body. You can make yourself stronger, faster, improve your senses and reflexes, make your scales harder, your claws sharper, your body lighter, and so much more. The possibilities are almost limitless."

"Nice!" Ethan exclaimed. "I guess that's not such a raw deal after all."

Alana shook her head. "Not one bit. Most dragons just use this magic to increase their size though, instead of going for the enchantments."

"Why?"

"It's way easier. You experienced how hard healing two small wounds was and how much magic it took. Magic is incredibly hard when you start and most young dragons don't want to put in the effort."

"It sounds like it would be worth it though." He said. "Drousin was big, but I imagine he's pretty slow."

"Well, Drousin is absolutely huge for a dragon. I met Drousin's son before and he just recently hit maturity. Drousin was complaining about him lately and was ready to kick him out of the cave."

"Oh." Ethan said. "So I'm a normal adult dragon size then?"

"Pretty much."

"Seems kind of small for a dragon. I mean, I'm no bigger than an average man."

"That's how they start." Alana replied. "They collect gold and use the magic from that gold to get larger. That's part of the reason many dragons don't enchant themselves."

"Come again?"

"Well, as a dragon gets larger, the amount of magic needed to enchant themselves goes up like this." Alana moved her hand to indicate an exponential growth rate. "Pretty soon, it's just not worth enchanting themselves anymore because it just takes too much magic. So they usually just grow larger instead. That's how you end up with massive dragons like Drousin."

"Where did you learn all this?" Ethan asked.

"Drousin himself." She said. "I used to hang out with him occasionally to pick his brains about enchanting. Dragons are the world's master enchanters and I figured I could learn some things that would help me make better enchanting staves. I did, and he didn't mind my presence as long as I brought a gold coin every time. That's why my coin purse is so light, although he enjoyed our talks until he decided I would make a better dinner than companion."

Alana's expression didn't change much, but Ethan could tell she was bitter.

"I'm sorry he tried to eat you."

"It's not your fault." Alana said with a sigh. "I should've known better than to trust a dragon, you know how they..."

She stopped mid-sentence and her body tensed up. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... I just meant that dragons are... well, not all dragons, but most dragons have a reputation for being... You know."

"Not really, but I'm not offended." Ethan replied. "Judging by Drousin, dragons are an unpleasant lot and I imagine their reputation reflects that. Besides, twenty four hours ago I didn't believe in dragons, magic, or even wood elves for that matter."

"Thank you." Alana relaxed a little. "That was probably kinder than I deserved."

"No problem. You can make it up to me by telling me how to create a fireball out of thin air, like that mage last night." Ethan added with a smile

She shook her head. "No one can create anything out of thin air. Did you notice the flames suddenly burning low right before he created the fireball?"

Ethan nodded, so she continued. "He actually created the fireball by pulling the heat and flames from the fire. Magic -- like all energy -- cannot be created or destroyed. However, you can pull it from one place and send it to another. Fire attacks are usually done by pulling the heat from the surrounding air, concentrating it, then shooting it at the target. If there's a big fire, it's even easier. Ice attacks are the opposite; they pull all the heat from one place to freeze it."

"Hmm." Ethan mused. "I suppose moving energy around is a lot easier than generating it."

"Exactly. I suppose you could try converting mana directly to fire, but you'd need a massive mana pool to make even a small fireball. Like you said, it's easier to move heat around than generate it."

Ethan and Alana finished their breakfast at around the same time and sat in comfortable silence for a few moments.

"So how are we going to get to the G city?" he asked after a little while.

"Gralden." Alana replied. "I have an idea, but I'm not sure it'll work. I was supposed to meet my uncle's traveling caravan in two days and travel with them to Gralden. They often run a few days ahead of schedule though."

"We could circle the edge of the forest and try to find them to meet up early. It's a larger caravan, so I don't think Hermair would attack them. He probably wouldn't have time to get reinforcements before we got to Gralden, so I think it's our safest bet."

"Sounds like a plan to--" He broke off as they heard a horse whinny in the distance.

"And that's our cue to leave." Alana said as she shouldered her pack and picked up her stuff. They both turned away from the direction of the horse and started walking in the opposite direction. Ethan offered to carry something, but Alana wouldn't hear of anyone but her carrying her staves.

* * *

A few hours of walking and occasional talking later, Alana found Ethan more confusing than ever. She had tried to ask about his family, but he had deflected his questions. As much as she wanted to pry, she also wanted to respect his privacy.

She had asked about his work, which resulted in a confusing few minutes while he tried to explain what a 'computer' and 'the internet' was. As best as she could figure, it was like an enchanted scroll with unlimited information that you could also use to communicate with others. She had to admit, the idea had a lot of potential uses.

She asked him about his personal life, but it sounded like he didn't have much of a personal life. Or at least, he didn't want to talk about it.

"So what do you do for fun?" she asked.

His eyes lit up. "I really love..." Ethan trailed off, and then shook his head. "Never mind."

Alana sighed in frustration. "We've been walking for hours and you've dodged almost every question I've asked. If you don't want to talk that's fine, but at least be upfront about not wanting to talk."

"No, I really enjoy talking with you." He said. "It's just I'm not used to opening up to people very quickly. In my world, people tend to talk about little unimportant things for a while before diving into the deeper stuff."

"Why would they do that?" she frowned. "I mean, if it's not important why would you bother talking about it?"

He opened his mouth to reply, and then stopped. "You know that's a good point."

"I'm sorry if I seem pushy." She apologized. "It's just my parents are... Well they aren't around anymore and I don't get to talk to people very often. That's probably part of the reason I started talking to Drousin; there wasn't anyone else around."

"Makes sense."

"So what do you like to do for fun?" she repeated. Ethan hesitated, and that's when Alana came up with a truly devious plan.

"How about this? You hide your hand behind your back and stick up a random number of fingers. If I can guess the number of fingers three times in a row, then you have to answer the question."

"And if you can't guess correctly?" Ethan asked.

"Your choice."

"Alright, if you can't guess correctly, then you have to let me carry something for you." He said. "Seriously, I'm feeling pretty lazy over here."

"Deal."

Ethan put one hand behind his back, then spread his wings a little to make sure it was hidden. "Okay, guess."

She smiled and put her plan into motion. She reached out with her senses until she felt the presence of a curious squirrel nearby. She gathered some mana and politely requested the squirrel's help. The squirrel -- being an animal -- didn't exactly understand the request, but it seemed to be fairly comfortable with her. Alana offered food in exchange for its assistance and it instantly she felt the walls around its mind drop. Alana very carefully took a look through its eyes.

"One finger."

Ethan frowned. "Okay, you were right once. How about now?"

She again took a quick peek through the squirrel's eyes. "One again. Trying to fake me out?"

He narrowed his eyes. "You're up to something."

"Maybe." She gave him her most winning smile. "Once more."

Ethan spread his wings so there was no possible chance that she could see behind him. "Okay. Guess."

Again, she simply checked through the squirrel's eyes. "No fingers. Tricky."

Ethan's jaw dropped. "How did you do that?"

She smiled and beckoned the squirrel closer. It ran toward her, but gave Ethan's draconic form a wide berth. Alana pulled a couple of nuts and a few berries out of her satchel and gave them to the squirrel.

"Say hello to my little friend." She said. "He let me peek through his eyes."

"You can do that?" His eyes were almost comically big. She suddenly realized that his cat-like eyes were a very bright shade of green.

"I've been in this forest a long time and we understand each other quite well."

He started laughing. "Well, you learn something new every day, like your traveling companion is a cheater."

The squirrel ran off with its booty and Alana turned to Ethan with a wide smile. "We didn't agree that enlisting help wasn't allowed, so technically I didn't cheat at all... and you owe me an answer."

"Fair enough." He sighed. "There's an orphanage not far from where I live-- used to live. I go there and try to teach the kids basic life skills they'll need, but probably wouldn't get otherwise. Things like how money works, balancing a checkbook, or how to make a profit ethically. I like playing with the younger ones too. The smiles on their faces are just... Well, you probably know."

"Why didn't you just say that?" Alana felt her heart melt. "There's no reason to hide that, it's wonderful!"

"I didn't want to sound like I was bragging or trying to look good." He replied with a shrug. "You're actually the first person I've ever told about that."

"Oh." Was all she could think to say. There was a moment of awkward silence before she decided it would be better if Ethan couldn't see her face.

"We should go before Hermair's men catch up." She turned and started walking again. Ethan fell into step just behind her.

"I don't know what they're like." She said after a few minutes of walking in silence. "Kids I mean. Elves don't have children very often because we live so long. I have older siblings, but they're long gone and my parents... aren't around anymore."

"Did something happen to them?" he enquired, although he sounded unsure about asking.

"Yes, a few years ago." Alana nodded, feeling her eyes moisten. "I've been on my own ever since. In some ways, I'm glad Hermair burned the farm down. I stayed there because it felt like a connection to my parents, but it was stopping me from living my own life. You were talking about the kid's smiles and I don't really know what they're like. I see them playing when I go into town and someday I'd like to have some."

"Kids?" he asked.

"Yes. I have no idea why I'm telling you all this."

"It lightens our load when we share it with others." He replied, then took a deep breath. "I know exactly what you mean about wanting kids. I was engaged back home, but my fiancé wasn't the person I thought she was. She'd been sleeping with my best friend behind my back and just before I came here, they literally stole the business I'd spent my entire adult life building."

Alana stopped and turned toward Ethan. "I'm so sorry." She wrapped him in a hug and couldn't hold the tears back anymore. They fell silently and dripped onto his shoulder.

After a few moments, she broke the hug and looked at him. His eyes were definitely wet and there was a single track where a tear had trickled down his scaly cheek. They looked at each other awkwardly for a moment before they both started wiping their faces.

"Well." Ethan muttered, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

"Yes." Alana replied, but couldn't quite meet his gaze. "Er... thanks for sharing that, and for listening."

"Ditto." He replied.

They walked on in companionable silence for the next hour or so. Alana couldn't help but smile when she thought about Ethan helping those kids. She also found herself idly wondering if maybe she could do it too. As she thought about helping kids, she also thought it would be pleasant if he was there to help her. That led to an idle wish that he was an elf instead of a dragon.

She instantly dismissed that notion.

About noon, they stopped for lunch. While they were eating, Alana found herself asking more about the kids he helped. She could feel her heart and spirits lift as he talked about them. He kept himself mostly out of the stories, but he would go on and on about the kids there. It seemed like he knew every one of them by name.

"That sounds amazing." She said with a sigh when he stopped to make some headway on his lunch.

"It is." He mumbled with his mouth full, although he wasn't used to having a dragon's mouth and half his food spilled back out. Alana let out a ridiculously loud peal of laughter. She laughed until her sides hurt as Ethan tried first to save face and then simply to clean up the mess.

They had just finished cleaning up and were about to leave when they heard the sound of horses. Alana clapped her hand over her mouth as she realized they might have been found because of her laughter.

She grabbed her satchel and bow; Ethan grabbed the bundle of staves and they both took off running. Ordinarily, they would've had no trouble getting away from mounted riders. However, they had almost reached the edge of the forest and the trees were much thinner here.

After a hundred yards or so, Alana chanced a glance over her shoulder. Three men on horses were trampling the ground where they had just eaten lunch. They were all wearing chainmail.

She swore.

"What?" Ethan asked as they ran.

"They have chainmail." She replied. "There's no chance my arrows will punch through."

They ducked behind a tree, Alana peeking around with one eye. The men were talking, though she couldn't hear what they were saying. One of them jumped off his horse and started examining the ground. Moments later, he looked up in Alana's direction.

"There!" she heard the man shout, and the other two horsemen started galloping toward them.

"Run!" she yelled, and they both took off like a shot.

She glanced behind her and saw that the riders had spread out to prevent them from escaping back into the forest. Fortunately, the trees were slowing the horses down; the pursuers weren't gaining any ground, but they weren't falling behind either.

Alana did some quick calculations and didn't like the odds. They were about two minutes from the edge of the forest and the wide open plains beyond. They couldn't go back or change directions because the soldiers were spread out to prevent just that. She briefly considered climbing the trees, but another glance back showed that at least one of the soldiers had a bow and they would be sitting ducks.

Of course, they would be sitting ducks on the plains anyway.

"Any bright ideas?" Ethan asked.

"No, I think we're in big..." Alana trailed off when she saw the wings on Ethan's back. "Can you fly?"

He grimaced. "I'm not sure now's the best time to find out."

She looked ahead. She could see the plains coming into view. Behind them, the soldiers were starting to gain as the trees thinned out. Two were definitely in the lead because the tracker had needed to re-mount his horse before he gave chase. She might not make it out of this, but she wasn't going to let Ethan be trapped with her.

"I think now is the only time to find out. If you fly due east, you should see Gralden before too long."

"I am not leaving you behind to die."

"I can't outrun them and you couldn't support my weight while flying. We can't both make it out of this alive."

"I'm not leaving you behind." Ethan repeated.

"You have to." Alana insisted. They were mere seconds from hitting the open plains where the horses could run them down.

Ethan looked determined and grim, and then his face suddenly lit up with a smile. "I'm not leaving you, but that doesn't mean I can't fly."

She was about to ask what he meant when they passed the last of the trees. The second he was clear, Ethan dropped to all fours then gave an almighty push with all his legs. He catapulted himself almost ten feet into the air. As he leapt, she saw his wings open until they were facing straight up. At the height of his leap, he flapped his wings with a powerful down-stroke.

She had never before appreciated just how big Ethan's wings were. While folded, they almost became part of his back in the same way a bat's wings disappear into its side. But fully extended, they were at least twenty feet across; Ethan himself was less than six feet tall, although with the tail he was much longer.

For some reason, Alana was expecting Ethan to fly as naturally as a fish in water.

He didn't.

He was flapping hard, but barely staying aloft and barely controlling his direction. He was still clutching her bundle of staves and dropped them as he focused on trying to control his flight.

Thundering hooves behind her brought her back to her own situation. In one smooth motion, she stopped, turned around, nocked an arrow in her bow and drew it to her cheek. She might not be able to pierce their chain mail, but not every inch of them was protected by it.

As she stood facing the approaching horses, a curious kind of calm overtook her. She knew she was going to die, but she wasn't going down without a fight. After a few precious moments of aiming, Alana let her arrow fly. It struck true, and the soldier fell backward off the horse, dead before he hit the ground.

Unfortunately, his partner was bearing down on her. She dived to the side to avoid him, but he brutally dragged on the reins, forcing the horse to follow her. Mere moments before the horse would run her down, a massive shadow swept over her. Alana felt her heart soar as she realized that Ethan hadn't left.

He had come back for her.

Ethan crash-landed into the mounted soldier and they tumbled to the ground in a frantic tangle of wings, limbs, hooves and claws. The soldier had lost his sword when Ethan crashed into him, and the dragon was up first on all fours and attacking with tooth and claw. The soldier's chest was armored, but his face wasn't and he stood about as much chance as any unarmed man would have had against an angry mountain lion. The fight ended when Ethan managed to get his claws under the man's chainmail hood and into his neck.

Alana turned her back on Ethan to face the only pursuer left; the tracker who was significantly behind the others. Alana nocked another arrow into her bow and took careful aim. However, the tracker was low in the saddle, hiding behind the neck of his horse and Alana couldn't get a clear shot.

The tracker drew his bow and nocked an arrow. Judging by the smoothness of the motion, it looked like he was born holding a bow. He thundered closer and Alana tried to get a good shot, but the rider wasn't giving her one.

Then the tracker moved.

Like greased lightning, he leaned out from behind the horse, drew the bow and released it in one smooth motion. The moment he exposed himself, Alana let her arrow fly. Given his obvious level of skill, she half expected to feel his arrow hit her, but he missed. His arrow went wide by a couple of feet.

Alana's arrow didn't.

Her arrow struck him in the left eye. He fell from his horse and rolled half a dozen times. When he finally came to a halt, his neck, arms and legs were at odd angles that no living person could endure, not to mention the arrow embedded in his eye.

"Yes!" Alana Jumped for joy and turned. "Ethan we did--"

She stopped cold.

The tracker hadn't missed after all; she just hadn't been his target. There was an arrow embedded in Ethan's chest. Seeing where it had hit, she was certain it had pierced his heart.

He fell backwards onto the ground.

"No!" Alana called. She dropped everything and ran to his side. He was coughing and gargling, as if trying to get air.

"Stay with me!" she shouted. "Come on, use your mana. Heal it up."

"I... I can't..." Ethan gasped. "There's none... I don't have..."

"Shh, let me do it. This is going to hurt like hell." She grabbed the arrow and unceremoniously ripped it out of his chest, thanking God it was another bodkin arrow and not a normal hunting one. He blanched and blood started pouring from the wound.

Alana was an enchantress at heart. She had spent her entire life enchanting and her skill with active spells was almost non-existent. So she did the only thing she could think of: she gathered every last ounce of mana in her body and threw it all at the wound while focusing on healing it. It was wasteful, but time was of the essence and she wasn't good at healing others.

It wasn't enough.

The wound was largely closed and the blood flow slowed, but she could feel that the damage wasn't fully repaired. His heart was still pierced, though thankfully it was still beating faintly. Ethan's eyes rolled back in his head and he went still. He wasn't dead, but he would be soon if she didn't do something fast.

She was completely out of mana; she had no medical supplies or bandages, and no enchanted items that could help her. Ethan was dying in her arms and she was completely powerless to save him.

Alana screamed.

It was a deep, bloodcurdling scream that echoed across the plains. It was a cry for help and she wished for help so badly that she felt mana from somewhere leak into her scream. It amplified her wail magically and made it reverberate across the plains.

That was when she realized there was one more option -- one more thing she could try. The deep mana that flowed through her, giving her life and keeping her alive was still there. She could use that. It wouldn't provide much, but it might be enough.

Maybe.

Possibly.

She had to try.

There was a moment's hesitation as she realized what the implications would be if another elf ever found out. What it would mean for her and Ethan in the Elven culture, but she didn't care.

Alana grabbed hold of the deep mana in her body -- the mana that anchored her life and soul to her body -- and carefully poured that into Ethan's wound. She could feel herself getting weaker, but she only needed to heal a little more. She started to become lightheaded and couldn't maintain the flow anymore.

She collapsed on the ground next to Ethan. She couldn't tell if he was alive or dead. She didn't know if her healing had been enough. Her vision was becoming cloudy and the bright blue sky began to resemble midnight. As the darkness closed in on her, her last thought was a prayer to the great God Illuminar that she had done enough.

Then blackness took her.

TO BE CONTINUED...