Here be Dragons!

Chapter 22

It is 2 months later

Rick was dead tired as he almost dragged himself home. It was just right over there and he could see it from here. But no, he had to go into the city first, go around, and go right back out first. Then drag himself up the hill. Opening the door and stepping inside he was greeted with the sound of a baby crying. All right, he'd heard it before he reached the door. It was just louder now. Rick closed the door and leaned against it. He was sure he could sleep for a week.

"RICK!"He looked up and saw Kate come flying down the stairs, taking each step as fast as she could until she crashed into him and pulled his head down to kiss him. Then she rested against him. She hadn't been this happy in a long time. Maybe she would finally get a good full night's sleep with him back in her bed.

"Where are the others?" Kate would have looked behind him but the door was closed.

"Still there," Rick told her.

"Still there?" Amy cried out and walked down the stairs with a wailing baby in her arms.

Rick amended his statement. "Technically they're on their way home. Should be here in about 2 weeks or so."

"So how did you get here?" Kate questioned him because if he left their children to fend for themselves she was gong to kill him.

"My belt doesn't just give me more strength it also has something called Word of Recall. Say I'm in a really bad situation and about to die. I speak the Command word and it will instantly teleport me to the closest Temple to my God. Since the closest Temple to Bahamut is right over there," Rick nodded in that direction, "it brought me here and all I had to do was walk home."

"My husband?" Amy wanted to know.

"They're all fine. Those kids are good, really good. Not sure they really needed me at all. I killed a few but our children did most of the work. At least until that Red Dragon showed up.

"I was all set to shift to a Gold Dragon and summon my Bronze Dragon when Elijah screamed at him and went into another one of his rages. That man is not someone you want to be in front of. Or behind or anywhere near. Him and that weapon of his." Rick shook his head.

"Anyway he uses his wings to fly up after it and goes at it head on. You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but the Red Dragon breathed fire on him and I swear, the fire went around him. It just deflected off of him to all sides. I was still standing there with my mouth hanging open when he flies right up to it and it one swing, just one swing." Rick raised up one finger. "He cuts its head off and both pieces simply tumble to the ground.

"I've got some Red Dragon scales, teeth and some claws in my portable hole if you don't believe me. That or you can wait until they get home. That man." Rick shook his head again.

"Those kids are good, really good!" Rick was still amazed. "I need to get out of this stuff and into the bathtub. I've learned one thing on this trip. We're both too old for this shit." Rick kissed Kate again and dragged himself toward the stairs. Then he stopped and looked at Amy. "You had the baby!" Rick's mind finally caught up to things around him. He went over to take a look. "He's a handsome little guy. Aiden has talked about nothing else."

Rick worked at getting a gauntlet off so he could stroke his grandson's cheek. "Have you tried using the formula in the city instead of breast milk? Or eat a lot of something else?"

Kate smacked her forehead. "I'm so stupid. Okay, no more tropical fruit for you and I'm going into town to look for baby formula or something. Right after I boil some hot water for you. …Go strip and get in the tub, babe. I'll be right there." Before Kate took another step she stopped him so she could kiss him again.

"I'm really glad you're safe and home." With that she went to the kitchen so she could heat some water.

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Rick would like to be in bed but he was downstairs eating a hot meal Kate had made for him. He groaned as he ate each bite.

"There were lots of Yuan-ti along with a number of Lizard Folk. Not to mention all the giant snakes." Rick shook his head. "Did I mention giant snakes?"

"OH, on the way in we went past an ancient volcano that had collapsed into itself. Now it was just this big crater in the ground. Alexis inexplicably led us all down into it but wouldn't explain why.

"That was where we met an Emerald Dragon named Esmerandanna. She's really old. We're talking really old here. Alexis and Addison talked her into moving out here instead of living there all alone. She should be here in about a month or so. She wanted to see where she could live before permanently moving.

"She does move and our little city will have yet another Dragon protecting it." Rick smiled and stuffed his face.

"And there was also something else there. We're still not sure just what it is. It was this snake that had to be 30 feet long easy. It had a snake head, powerful looking arms that ended in hands that had claws this long." Rick used his hands to show just how long. "It was wearing bracers, shoulder pads, this necklace, and a skirt. It was all either gold in color or red or a combination of both. The kids have it all now. That thing had muscles that rivaled Elijah's." Rick shook his head again and drank something.

"It shrugged off every spell Addison shot at it. Only Elijah with that weapon of his or Alexis and my magical arrows did any damage to it. It ripped Elijah open something bad though. Aiden saved him. If not for Aiden, Alexis would be a widow." Rick paused his eating as he had feared they would lose someone.

"What were the others doing?" Kate didn't get it. If it was all alone it should have died fast.

"Killing guards and giant snakes. …Did I mention giant snakes?" Rick asked again. "That place really was a Fortress with a garrison. …Addison has this thing. Basically she reads a scroll and it creates this mansion that only has this door in a wall. She opens the door and goes inside and allows everyone else inside.

"It has whatever she wants inside it. Living room, dining room, kitchen, bedrooms, and bathrooms upstairs. Even a pool if she asks for it. When she closes the door the door disappears. It's like being in an extra-dimensional space. It only lasts for 12 hours, though.

Rick stated it again. "Those kids are really good. Oh and they're rich now. There were solid gold statues everywhere. Gold this and gold that. My portable hole is filled with the stuff. So is theirs. A couple of them took Elijah and I a lot of work to lower it down safely. Pretty sure I pulled a back muscle," Rick joked and Kate smiled.

"Aiden isn't hurt?" Amy needed to hear it again.

"Aiden's fine. He saved Elijah's life and took care of each of us. He proved his worth over and over again. You'll see for yourself in a couple of weeks. He wants to see the baby more than anything," Rick assured her.

"Oh! Here." Rick gave the cloth that was his black hole to Kate who knew what to do with it.

Kate opened it up on the living room floor. "WOW!"All Kate saw was gold this and gold that and something huge that was almost too tall. "There's another one like this?" Kate queried while still looking at it all.

Kate felt Amy and Rick next to her. Amy was too shocked and stunned by it all to say anything.

"Theirs is just as full. Coins, potions, scrolls. We feared overloading them so all that went into Bags of Holding or backpacks. The plan is to give some of this to Rhaegal to help convince her to stay. We gave her our chunks of gold and silver ore but this is better," Rick explained.

"I like it. I'll bet she'll love it. …I see a lot of snakes, though." Kate was still looking it over as was Amy until Noah announced that he was hungry.

"I'll get what I found in the city. If he doesn't like it we can try something else or you can just keep tying to breastfeed." Kate went the kitchen to put it together.

Rick folded up the portable hole while Amy sat down again and waited. She felt bad that her baby didn't like her milk. But maybe it was because of what she was eating, thinking it would be good for the baby.

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Rick was dead tired and was sleeping while Kate watched him and listened to Baylee playing downstairs until she screamed. That had her racing down the stairs to find a Velociraptor enter her home through an open door. Liam and another one was right behind him. Behind him was everyone else.

"AMY, AIDEN IS HOME!" Kate yelled up the stairs. The Raptors and Liam headed to the kitchen so he could find them a snack as Baylee ran to Addison who scooped her up and rained kisses all over her face.

Kate headed straight to Elijah. "How do you feel. Rick told us you got sliced up pretty good." She looked him over but he looked normal to her.

"He did. Scared the hell out of me, too." Alexis was right behind him.

Elijah shrugged it off. "It was just a scratch."

"Don't listen to him. I thought sure I was about to lose my husband." Alexis looped an arm into his to hold onto him.

"That thing was pretty tough, though." Elijah admitted that much.

Kate was looking around at everyone. The house was packed with people and they only had just so much space to contain everyone. Then Dug blinked in from Rick's room and now he and the Velociraptors started to play.

Liam opened the front door. "Take it outside, you three." Liam beat Kate to it and she watched two Velociraptors coo long and loud then race out the door with Dug blinking hot on their heels, followed by Liam closing the door.

Then the entire place got deathly quiet which had Kate turning to see Amy coming down the stairs with Noah in her arms who for once wasn't crying.

Everyone gave Aiden and Amy a moment until they had thought it was long enough and it was their turn to see the baby. "Noah, I named him Noah," Amy announced.

Aiden hadn't even known if it was a boy or a girl or if either or both had lived.

"Where are you going, Mom and where's Dad?" He clearly had made it.

"Sleeping and I'm going out to make reservations for all of us. We're celebrating, so if you want to go home and get clean you better get moving." With a decisive nod Kate went out the door.

"I do have almost 3 months of grime on me," Alexis grimaced. "We can hit the public baths before dinner. I'm buying."

Rick thought he heard someone or something downstairs, however, by the time he was dressed and downstairs he found no one. Not even Dug.

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They as a group had almost taken over the lone restaurant that was in the city. Kate had paid extra to compensate the owner for their large party.

The meal while hot and tasty was also filled with events that had happened while they were there. Describing rooms they were in and what they fought. Then Alexis started talking about the Emerald Dragon they'd met that should be here for a visit to decide if she wanted to move here and where.

Kate needed to hear it. "Rick showed us his hole. He told us yours is just as full."

"Is it ever!" Liam rolled his eyes.

"We still have to figure out how to get those two out. In had been a pain just getting them in, getting them out is possibly going to be worse." Elijah wasn't looking forward to that.

"We were thinking of trying to find a way to melt the snakes down and turn those into something else. We were thinking about ordering something and having it delivered. Likely it will come in pieces and requires some assembly," Alexis mentioned.

"We've also reached another conclusion on the trip home. We want to move into your old home mom. Move the horses back out and take it over," Addison announced. They had one child, two Velociraptors, and she was pregnant.

"It's yours, sweetheart," Kate answered quickly.

Rick offered up his sore muscles. "We'll even help you move."

"Good, because Elijah and I plan on expanding into the other two houses. Addison and Liam get the house. Aiden and Amy will eventually have a home behind the Temple and Elijah and I could use the extra space." Alexis had learned something on this trip. "I'm late and this place is making my stomach queasy." She hadn't eaten all that much because of it.

"You're pregnant!?" Kate was up and out of her chair to hug her oldest daughter. She was so happy for her. Alexis had stated that she was worried one of them wasn't capable or they weren't compatible.

"An Emerald, Mercury half-Dragon shifter maybe?" Kate questioned and got a shrug from Alexis. Anything was possible.

It was now drinks all around while Alexis and Elijah are celebrated.

Rick kissed Kate's cheek. "Another grandbaby." He was all smiles. Kate took his head in her hands and kissed him. She was happy for all of her children.

They were all grown up, they were powerful, and they were rich on their own. Their little town was now very powerful. Even more so if that Emerald Dragon decided to stay here.

"You cut the head of a Red Dragon off?" Kate asked Elijah. She didn't doubt her husband but cutting a head off was quite the feat.

"He was magnificent!" Alexis kissed him.

"I did what I wanted to do really badly. Amazed me, too. Still not sure why his breath didn't affect me." Elijah didn't understand that part any more than cutting its head off.

"We're thinking it's that massive weapon of his. Why, we have no idea but it's all we could come up with." Addison's opinion was one that everyone could agree with.

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It is now 6 months later

Liam, Baylee, 2 Velociraptors, and a very pregnant Addison had moved into her childhood home. Baylee was actually in her old room that hadn't changed since she had lived in it.

Baylee and the Raptors had learned just what they could do on a deck around a house this big. And they had an entire island all to themselves.

Alexis and Elijah had opened up the wall between their house and Liam's and Addison's house. Today everyone was helping Aiden, Amy and Noah move out of their house and into their new one behind the now totally complete Temple to Bahamut.

The Temple had one priestess besides Aiden and three guards. They also had some want-to-be priests but they were still too young to leave home. Aiden was missing from this move because he and Rick were talking to two additional guards that wanted the job. They were just teenagers and not much younger than Aiden and Addison had been when they went out on their first adventure.

Even if they accepted these two Aiden still had room for five more, though he was thinking one of the rooms would be left empty for emergency use. So that just left four spaces left to fill.

"I hate to say it, son, but you might want to think about an addition already. One priestess and four guards for a place this big. It's not like you can't afford it," Rick said after Aiden hired those two as guards. "Build up or add one behind this one. Or both. With as many Dragons we now have around here this place is going to be very popular."

Esmerandanna had found a spot she liked and had gotten right to work with the help of Alexis and her husband to deepen it and provide her with magical protection compliments of Aiden and Addison. She even had a secret door to place her bedroom and hoard into. She was close to a city again which made her happy and yet hidden away with only a select few that knew her location.

"Yeah, I'm thinking up and maybe out back. I'll make arrangements to have the contractor come back. I'm sure the city will enjoy them spending their gold here again," Aiden quickly agreed. "I may need to add housing behind the school, too. The city only has just so many."

Rick thought that was a good idea as well. "How are all the spells working out so far?" Rick questioned him.

"Well some like Hallow are hard to see if they are working. The Wards that are on various doors are easier to see. The Wards meant to prevent teleportation and Gate into the Temple itself are supposedly working. The illusions, however, are as big a hit as the Shrine is inside the city.

Liam has even offered to come and make sure all the plants thrive and grow strong. A little speed growth and we might have fruit on the trees next year." Aiden liked the sound of that.

"It looks good, son. I'm proud of you." Rick hugged him. "Head of a Temple, married to an amazing woman with a son. I can't think of anything better. This city is going to remember you for generations to come." Rick hugged him again.

"I'll keep the Shrine going, you just handle the Temple. Gotta keep the kids happy," Rick smiled since both places were a big hit.

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It is now nine years later

Kate took her bowl of soup up to her sickly husband who hadn't been out of bed except to use the bathroom in days. She'd had Aiden out here daily and he had cast every spell he could think of or had access to. She was just about ready to beg one of her children to go to Calimport to see if they had another Ring of 3 Wishes or maybe Addison could find a scroll that had at least one wish on it.

That or a more powerful Cleric at a different Temple that had a scroll of Miracle.

He was lying on his back but his breathing was shallow and labored. She saw that his eyes were at least open. Kate put the bowl and spoon on the side table and sat next to him. She needed him to sit up straighter to eat this.

His voice sounded gravelly and weak, however, she made out each word. "I… Love… You." Kate heard them and feared them greatly. Then his eyes closed and his chest stopped rising and falling.

"NO! …No, no, no! Please don't do this, babe! PLEASE! Not like this. Not now!"

Kate couldn't stop her tears and didn't try. She sobbed uncontrollably until she fell to the floor where she kept crying.

Minutes later she was back up, sitting on the bed. He was still incredibly handsome to her. He was the love of her life and she didn't know what to do without him.

"I will find you, Rick. I will search for you through a thousand worlds and ten thousand lifetimes until I find you." Kate collapsed on him and her tears flowed like a river. Her heart would be forever broken until she found him again.