by Неизвестный
Gwen shook her head. "I must finish dinner. Ella is alone in the kitchen. Tonight the engravers' guild is coming."She tried to swing her legs to the floor.
Madam Lou's bulk blocked her. "You're not the only person in the house who can cook. I'll send two of the wenches to help Ella. If she ever appears with the barley water and cloths your intended ordered."
"He's not my intended."
"I am, Gwen. And I do not plan to release you from your promise."
As Gwen repeated her objections, Ella appeared, and while Kallaayt held the glass and urged Gwen to drink, Madam Lou sent the child off for blankets.
"You'll rest, or I'll know why!"Madam Lou said in a voice that brooked no argument. "Stay off your feet for two hours by the sandglass, and you'll be fit enough to go back to the kitchen. Start moving around and you'll faint on us again."Her admonition ended with a smile and a quick kiss on Gwen's forehead. "You,"she said to Kallaayt, "I'll see in my office before the sands are halfway run."
"Kall,"Gwen began even before the door closed behind Madam Lou. "I cannot leave with you, even if I would."
"It is not far, my love. I can take you there in less than one day."If he shifted and flew. "And I swear not one of my kin will ever speak a word in condemnation."He brushed the golden hair off her face and looked deep in her eyes. "Can you truly say you do not love me?"
She shook her head. "Kall..."
From the corners of her eyes, twin tears fell. He gathered them on the tip of his finger and licked the salt of her sorrow away. "Talk no more of us breaking faith. We are promised and that, my love, is that."
When she started to protest, he kissed her. Her soft sweet mouth opened under his with a quiet sigh, sorrow and worry fading in their kindling passion. She reached up and held his head, pulling him closer as their tongues met. It had been far too long, but their bodies remembered. His hand slid down to cup her breast, now full and hard and luscious to his touch. He needed her, wanted her, and he had no doubt Madam Lou was standing outside, timing him.
Gently he eased off her mouth, holding her close as he dropped a gentle kiss on her cheek. "Rest, my love. When I've convinced Madam Lou I'm not a disreputable nomad, I'll return."And tell Gwen his secret. "We'll ready ourselves to leave at dawn."
"I cannot, Kall! You do not understand! I am forbidden to leave this house. If I do, I'll be flogged in the market square."
His anger went cold as the frost in northern lands. "Who says this, Gwen?"
"The new bishop. He pronounced me tainted and impure after I fled here."
"Gwen, we leave together, never fear."
"We cannot, Kall. If I could sneak unseen though the alleys, the new gates are guarded by day and sealed by night."
"Gates will not stop me, and you need never set foot on these inhospitable streets again. Believe me, Gwen. We leave together."He placed his hand on her belly. "The three of us."He kissed her again, and this time willed sleep to her. Her eyes were closed as he walked toward the door.
Madam Lou waited, arms crossed on her chest. "She's resting?"
"Asleep."
She raised an eyebrow but said nothing as Kallaayt followed her into a small study. She took one chair by the now-empty fireplace and offered him another. He looked around as he sat--this room was as comfortable as where he'd left Gwen sleeping. A chimney fireplace and a glazed window, woven cloths on the wood floor, accommodations here were far better than anything the Flowing Flagon offered.
"Not what you'd expected in a wenchhouse?"
"In truth, Madam Lou, I never gave the matter any thought."That she appeared to doubt. "I thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving Gwen refuge. But I'm afraid you must find a new cook. Gwen leaves with me, before dawn."
"Spoke with her on this, did you?"
"Yes, and in her dazed, shocked state she insists she cannot leave the city."
"She's not dazed. She can't."
"And who would stop her?"
"The bishop's constables. And they'd delight in it."He caught the meaning in her stone-cold words.
"What happened that the bishop holds such sway?"He remembered a benign, doddery old man.
"You want the recent history of Llanbarra, or to talk about Gwen?"
"Seems they are linked."
Madam Lou nodded. "True. Everything changed when the new bishop arrived."
"What happened to the old one?"
"Bishop Alriv?"She shook her head. "That was a sad day. He fell down at the altar with paralysis. A good man. He only preached against my house at the beginning of the penance season, and his priests always treated my wenches with respect. Once, a young deacon got overrough with one of my wenches, and when I complained, the bishop himself reprimanded him and sent his own healer to tend her."She sighed. "But all that changed."
She got up and walked over to a small cabinet, returning with two small glasses filled with tawny liquor. "I need this, even if you don't,"she said, handing him one. She raised her glass. "Prosperity to you and your kin."
Kallaayt echoed her toast and sipped. Briefly. Unsure what he was drinking, and unwilling to disturb her narrative by asking.
"Many new laws came with the new rule."
He'd encountered one already. "The taxes at the gate."
"Just one of many. We have bishop's constables now, reporting, sneaking and prying into honest folks' lives."She shrugged. "It's bad. Girls and lads flirting on the streets are hauled into his courts and chastised. Dancing and singing are forbidden on holy days."She took another sip. "Your poor Gwen was brought before the courts as a wanton and shamed in front of the whole town, but Morgan the Miller strides the streets as an honored tradesman. When Gwen claimed he'd raped her--and there were witnesses who'd seen her bruises and Mari stood up and swore she heard her screams and saw Morgan in her room with his clothes awry. Bah! The bishop declared only a wanton would lure a man that way, and threatened Mari with the pillory and flogging as a liar if she persisted in her slander."By the time Madam Lou finished, she was red-faced with anger. "Anyone with half a brain and one eye could see Gwen is no wanton."
"Mari claims it was a trap set up by innkeeper Karil. Gwen refused Morgan in marriage, so she was cast out."
"A sharp girl, that Mari."
And an honest and noble one, too. She deserved better than the silver coin he'd given. "It is high time Gwen left a town where she is so maligned."
"And the bishop's fiat that she may not set foot on the streets?"
"That will not stop us."
She looked at the still full glass in his hand and nodded. "Gwen is willing to go with you?"
"She says no, but that is shame and pride speaking. I will convince her."
Madam Lou gave a little lopsided smile. "That I don't doubt, but does she know what you are?"
"A trader, yes."
"The fools in the town believe that. I know otherwise."
Kallaayt met her eyes. "What do you fancy you know?"
Her laugh came soft and free. "No fancy. But in truth I'm uncertain what I saw. When you carried Gwen from the kitchen, I glimpsed another you. Stronger. Powerful beyond a man. Whatever you are, you walk in the form of Kall the trader."
Dragons never lie, but when knowledge can harm or kill, needs must be economical with truth. "My true form would ever be unwelcome here."
"A shifter?"
He nodded, still unsure of her, and unwilling to implicate her as accomplice, if truth ever outed.
"Best tell your beloved then--such news needs be shared."
"I came back to tell her."And would do so with all speed.
"Give me your word you will not take her away against her will."
"I swear it."
She seemed content with that.
"How did you see?"No mortal eye had ever penetrated a dragon's shift.
She chuckled. "I, too, am not entirely what I seem. My mother was burned as a sorceress, and her grandmother was one of the Priestesses of the Old Circle."
"
One of the Goddess's Chosen?"It had been many decades since any mortal had formed the Sacred Circle.
"Hush now!"Madam Lou raised her hand as if to quiet him. "Never say her name aloud. By fiat we only worship gods now."
"Another decree of the bishop?"
"The enforcement is his. The old bishop turned a blind eye believing all prayer went heavenward. But now, the constables destroy any symbols of the old religion, and brand those possessing them."
What blasphemy! The sooner he took Gwen from this clutch of heretics, the better.
"Will you not come with us? A descendant of one of the Goddess's own would be ever welcome among my kind."
"I cannot dessert those who depend on me. Take Gwen, if she wills, and use your powers to spirit her away."
"I will, and ever be grateful."
Leaving Madam Lou in her study, Kallaayt strode back to the parlor. He opened the door quietly so as not to disturb Gwen, and found the room empty.
He found her minutes later, in the center of kitchen activity, and seeming no worse for her shock. He stood in the doorway and watched as she sent the girl to the root cellar for turnips and onions, and a gangly lad to the yard for more wood for the stove. As they left on their errands, he was alone with Gwen in the vast kitchen. She looked at him, chin up. A spark of something he couldn't quite measure flashed in the dark of her eyes.
Before either of them spoke, Madam Lou appeared with two wenches in tow. "I thought as much! Truly, Gwen, have you no thought for my reputation? What if you collapse again, and I'm accused of working my cook to exhaustion? Adele and Bron here will take over. You,"she shook a plump finger at Gwen, "will go and rest. And you,"she turned to Kallaayt, "better make sure she stays in her room."
Kallaayt had no quarrel with that commission.
How would Gwen accept it?
Cautiously.
She acknowledged Madam Lou's dictum with a nod. After removing her apron and wiping her hands on a drying cloth, Gwen walked out the door, Kallaayt following her up two flights of back stairs. She paused in the hallway at the top. Several doors opened off the scrubbed wood floor.
"Kall,"she began, "there is no need for this."
"There is every need, Gwen. We must talk, and our child needs you to rest. Which is your room?"
She led him into small neat room, with a narrow bed and a woven cloth on the floor. A high window looked out on the twilight.
Gwen paused in the middle of the room.
Kallaayt closed the door behind them. There was no lock, but he trusted Madam Lou to see they were undisturbed. He took Gwen's hand and stepped to the narrow bed. He sat down on the snowy white cover and motioned her beside him. She sat, but not close. "When we parted,"he said, "I promised to return for you. I am here and would take you with me, if you still will."
"Kall, do you not listen? My will is pointless now! I cannot leave the town."
"Your bishop and constables are nothing to me. If you will come with me, we leave."
"And when they stop us and drag us back?"
"They cannot stop me, Gwen."
"Are you more powerful than the bishop and his constables?"
"Yes."
Tears glistened in the corners of her eyes. "Wishing does not make it so, Kall. I am condemned to stay here, and when my babe is born, they will take him and give him to his father."
A roar of protest gathered in the dragon lungs. "Never!"
"Kall, how can we defy them?"
"Listen, Gwen..."he paused. She'd swooned at the sight of him, what would she do on learning his true nature? No matter. Before he could convince her, she had to understand his power. "I come to Llanbarra in the guise of a trader. If I came as I am, they would never let me enter the town."
"Why?"She paled, but looked him in the eye. "Are you a spy? One of the pirates from across the water?"
"Neither. My kin live to the north, in the great fire mountain, Cader Bala."
Her eyes grew wide. "Cader Bala? They say demons live there."
"No demons, Gwen--dragons. The first of the Goddess's chosen. We live on the riches of the great fire mountain."
"Kall, your words do not make sense. No man is a dragon."
"I'm not a human man, Gwen. My true name is Kallaayt."
She stared.
He waited.
She spoke slowly as if to a dim-witted child. "Kall, I wish you were a dragon who could carry me away."
She had not recoiled at the idea. Hope bloomed in his heart. "I speak truly, Gwen. Look, will this convince you?"
He meshed his fingers with hers, and raised their joined hands, turning his wrist so his hand was level with her eyes. "Watch."
He invoked the Goddess's power, and one finger at a time transformed the hand that grasped hers. Her work-worn fingers pressed against the slowly forming soft scales on his hand. Her lips parted as she watched: shock, horror, and delight mingling in her wide eyes.
"Dear heaven,"she whispered. "It is true."She looked up, her face even paler now, but a fierce hope glimmered in her eyes. "You can truly take me away."
"Will you come?'
"Oh, Kall!"She dropped his hand, and wrapped her warm arms round his neck. "How could I not?"Her belly pressed close, and the child within kicked and punched. She pulled back, looking up at Kallaayt, doubt still clouding her eyes. "But your kin, how will they welcome me, carrying another's child?"
"My kin welcome all young. They are rare among us and precious."
"But Kall--"
He stopped her mid-sentence with a kiss, slowly opening her mouth with his lips. She sighed with sweet pleasure, as he pressed harder, capturing her mouth under his. He cupped his hand around her head and held her steady as his tongue found hers. Her little whimper of happiness was swallowed by his kiss. As he pressed his advantage, she relaxed in his arms. His fingers slid over her full breasts, and the voluptuous curves of her ripening body. Sweet Goddess! Gwen was a treasure beyond dreaming, and she'd accepted his nature.
He wanted to bind her to him by his body, but not with this mortal shape. After her babe was born, he would take her as dragon. They had eternity for loving, but for now...
An arm around her shoulders, he eased her back on the smooth linen spread. She lay looking up at him from the pillows. He leaned over her, kissing her eyelids, and the smooth curve of her cheeks and jaw. Brushing her hair aside, he nuzzled the soft skin of her neck. As she sighed with pleasure, he eased open her shift, and her full breasts fell free.
"Kall?"she said. "What..."Her question was lost in a long, slow moan of delight as his tongue curled round her nipple. His hands cupped her ripe breasts. Soon they would suckle her child, but for now, these breasts were his. And he took them, tasting the sweet richness that would nourish her child. A child for Cader Bala.
He groaned as he ran his hands over her belly and down her thighs, before lifting her skirts, to fix his gaze on her ripe belly, long legs, and the soft glistening curls between. She was ripe and ready and he caught the scent of her need. He longed to take her. To feel her warmth and softness grasp his cock...but that must wait until after they were sung to the mating pavilions in the heart of the fire mountain.
Now was for Gwen.
Gently he ran his hand up and down her legs to part them. When she offered no protest, he kissed her belly. He rested his face against her to hear the strong young heartbeat within. His heart seemed to swell within his chest. Mortal frame was too restricting. He needed to roar his joy aloud, but contented himself with cupping her warm sex.
She started, and sat bolt upright. "Kall!"
The panic in her voice reminded him she'd been traumatized. It was up to him to obliterate her horror with loving, replace pain with pleasure, and shame with joy.
"Hush, I will not hurt you, Gwen. I could not. It would kill me to harm you, or this babe. Trust me."
He watched the muscles of her throat undulate as she swallowed. Slowly. She nodded. "Oh, Kall!"
"Kallaayt. I want to hear you
say my true name. You are the only soul in this town to know it."
"Kallaayt."She spoke slowly, testing the syllables with her tongue. "Kallaayt."
"Yes."He pressed gently against one shoulder. "Lie down."
"Kallaayt,"she repeated, as he settled between her legs.
Gently he smoothed his fingertips along the inside of her thighs. She shivered. From fear or desire? Desire! A fire kindled inside him as he smelled her passion. Her need was a clear as the scent of her arousal and the moisture gathering on her sex lips. He opened her as gently as he knew how, and was rewarded with a sweet murmur of need. He smiled against her thigh. She'd do more than murmur before he was done.
He stroked her softness, testing her wetness, and venturing just a nail's length into her channel. He did not dare enter deeper, not until the babe was born. He didn't need to. He bent his face closer, breathing softly on her moistness until she sighed again. He lapped her with the flat of his tongue, tasting her sweetness and need. Her hips bucked under his touch. He lapped again, slower this time, caressing her from fore to aft and back again. Gwen grabbed his head with her hands. "Kall? Kallaayt? What are you doing?"
"Loving you,"he replied, and bent back to her need. He narrowed his tongue, fluttering her lips apart before flicking his tongue back and forth until he found her pleasure nub. She hardened under his tongue and he played her. Drawing her desire higher and wilder as she tossed under his touch.
Muttering and moaning, she grasped his head and shoulders with her restless hands. Her passion was rising in every pore of her skin. Her sweetness flooded onto his tongue. His lips pressed into her warmth. Muffled whimpers followed as she climbed her passion, and as she reached her crest, she called out "Kallaayt! Kallaayt!"With a great shriek, she climaxed, and he knew he'd won her.
She looked up at him with drowsy eyes. "Oh Kallaayt, I love you. I'd go with you to the ends of the earth."
"No need, my love. Cader Bala is far enough."
"When?"
"Before dawn. I must settle my affairs at the Flagon, but I'll return. Rest now. The flight is long."
"I will come whenever and go wherever, if you are with me."