Love as a Form of Binding Ch. 14

"Well I can if she can speak kobold," he said, "I can't say as I know much goblin, other than te ask 'how much' or 'which way' or 'sorry if that was yer lunch that I was pissin' on just now'. He turned and began to speak to Gerta.

After a minute, he began to try to fill them in a little. "She says that she's very surprised te see me. She says that the goblins ate all of the kobolds a while ago, that she's the last as far as she knows." He listened further and asked a few things. Hearing the answers, he stared for a moment and spoke a single word as a question.

Gerta looked as though he'd hit her with a plank for a second. She stared at him and said two words as though they'd just escaped her and then they both stood there in shock.

"Oh for pity's sake,"Lily said, "This will take all day if I just leave them to it and Thiery has to then tell you what was said. Here,..." She waved her hand.

"That was my mother's name as well," Thiery said, "How old are you?"

She thought about it for a moment, "Sixty-two winters."

"How d'ye know my name?" Thiery asked, trying not to show what he was beginning to feel inside him.

"She said that she had a boy before me," Gerta said hesitantly, "a blonde boy that she named Thiery who didna look like her. She said that he ran away a few years before I was born. My father was a goblin that she didn't know, but she said that Thiery's father was a worthless -- "

"Kobold, " Thiery nodded.

She nodded back, "Aye, a kobold that she loved very much. I'm guessin' I'm yer half-sister then. She said it was hard enough that she'd killed yer dad, but te lose you was so much worse. "

Thiery looked as though he was about to cry, but he managed a small smile for her, "I didna run away. I was caught and taken far from here."

He stared at Gerta, "Ye look so much like her."

The humans in the room as well as Toby felt their eyebrows rising in some shock. Lily hid her smile.

"How long?" Thiery began, "When did she -- "

"Four winters." Gerta said, "She made a deal wi' the ones who kept us. She promised that they could use me fer te fuck if they took her instead of me. She made me agree te it, and they took her off te slaughter her. I cried fer a long time, Thiery.

There was three other kobolds, but they was all old males, and they went before me. I was te be on the king's table at the end of the month -- in a week-like, but these two goblins ran in and took me. A hellhound came and killed 'em. Lewis talked her inte givin' me a chance. I'm hopin' like anything that they'll no find me here. I don't want te ever see a goblin again and I'm not wantin' anything te happen te Lewis. We don't know much about each other, but he's kind te me, Thiery, like nobody's ever been. I want te stay here if I can. I'd do anything te stay wi' him if I could."

"The king's dead," Thiery said, "The laird here killed him hisself. I seen it, Grrrta, I seen him do it. The bastard is dead, along wi' any that we found. The king had nine queens and the laird's two girls, they tore them apart like it was personal-like."

He looked down for a moment, "I wish I'da known. I'da killed a few more, I daresay."

He looked up, "But I'm here now, Grrrta, and it's good te meet ye."

Gerta smiled, "It's good te meet ye too. But ye don't look much like a kobold, Thiery," she said, "Yer lookin' much too big te be a kobold. I've never seen a kobold your size in my life."

He shrugged, "I've got a girl," he said, "an imp girl, and they do somethin' to a boy who -- "

"Well anyway," he smiled, "I'm a bit bigger now, is all." He looked at the ripped old dress that Gerta wore for a moment. "That's Ma's dr-"

"Aye," Gerta nodded, "it's hers. It's all I've got, though there's no much left of it."

"And that's another reason why we've come," Lily smiled, "Lewis, have you any old clothes that you don't wear anymore? I mean, something that has no holes, mind you, just things that might be out of fashion or that you no longer have a use for."

Lewis smiled a little, "Madam, I'm out of fashion. I've never been in fashion, but I have some things." He left the room to look.

"Why are ye here wi' demons and a human, Thiery?" Gerta asked, "I can see what they are under what they're wearin'."

"We're here," Lily smiled, "to make sure that you're alright and well looked after. I can tell that Lewis thinks highly of you, but humans, most of them, can't take the sort of shock that the appearance of someone such as yourself might cause, and by far, most of them would have no desire to care for you or to take you in as he has done. Sharon works with Lewis sometimes, and they both have an interest in the sort of beings that we all are. It makes them very special to me."

She leaned down a little and whispered, "You fancy Lewis a lot, don't you?"

Gerta didn't know what to say for a moment, but then she looked at Thiery and back at Lily with a small smile, "Yes, now that I'm not afraid anymore," she whispered back and it made Lily smile.

"That's good to hear," she whispered, "He thinks the world of you already and I know that he hopes that you'll stay."

Lewis was back in a few minutes and Lily selected a few things to set aside for the moment. When she was done, Gerta had some new dresses and even a pair of jeans that Lily had caused to fit. Gerta was delighted.

Lewis made tea and was a little surprised to find that Thiery had walked in behind him. He looked a little uncomfortable.

"I'm wantin' te say somethin' te ye, Mr. Lewis, sir," Thiery began, "I've just met my little sister fer the first time and, ... well, if I'd known her all of her life, then I guess that I'd be sayin' somethin' about askin' yer intentions, I think."

He sighed, "But we've never seen each other before, her and I, so I've no business sayin' somethin' like that te ye. I'd just like te say two things te ye then; please keep treatin' her as well as I can see that ye have been, and just so you know, her name's no Gerta, Mr. Lewis, it's Grrrta. I thought ye'd like te know is all."

Lewis smiled, "Thank you very much, Thiery, for both."

After an hour of what might be called the strangest small talk that Lewis had ever found himself taking part in, the visitors got up to leave.

"Remember what I said, Lewis, "Lily warned, "Be sure to stick close to home for the next two days at least, unless you hear from me or one of us. Things may get a little unhealthy hereabout for a time. Sharon has ideas for her next book now as she's said, so I'm certain that you'll have a lot to discuss if you agree to help. In the meantime, just lay a little low, the two of you."

She looked at Gerta, who was saying goodbye to her new older brother as he was promising that he'd try to come to visit. She noticed the flicker in Gerta's skin.

"Grrrta," she said, "how long have you had that in your skin?"

The girl shrugged, "Always, Lily. It's always been like this. Why?"

"I'm not sure," the tall woman smiled, "Look at Thiery and think about his skin for a moment. I'd like to see something."

Gerta looked and in a second, Thiery grinned, "Look at yerself, Grrrta!"

She stared at her hand for a moment and then ran to the bathroom to look into the mirror there. She came running back. "I look different!"

Lily grinned, "Now think about how you looked before."

Gerta tried and when she looked at her hand, she was even more amazed, "How did you -- "

"I didn't do anything," Lily smiled, "I only saw that your body could likely do this if you used your head. You ought to practice in front of a mirror for a few hours. Lewis likes the way that you look when you're green a little more, I suspect, but he likes this way as well, and if you practice, he'll be able to take you places with him, which I'm sure you'll both enjoy. And a Happy Christmas to you both.

Lewis, a word please, if you think that you can stand to be near a demon."

When he was close to her, Lily smiled and began to whisper, "Please don't be offended, but I can see that you are inexperienced in the ways of loving, shall we say. There's no shame in it, but if you can take a little advice from an old demon girl, I can tell you that at some point, likely rather soon, your friend there will ask you to um, ... mount her in a place that might not have come to your mind at this point. If that happens, then you will need a lot of lubrication for the task."

She took his hand," Here, use this, and a lot of it. This would be a bad time to be frugal. You can always buy more. Use it liberally on both of you and above all, Lewis, be slow and very gentle with her. She is no stranger to this act, but I know that she is hopeful that you will be as kind in this regard as you have been to her in all others. It's something that she's never enjoyed in the least for the way and the intent that it was done to her. She is now so very hopeful that you can make this as pleasant for her as she hopes to make it for you."

She smiled, "I'm going to leave my little spell on you both so that you'll be able to talk to one another. I think that the next time that I see you, I'll make it both ways and permanent so that you will know another language," she grinned. "My best wishes, and I hope to see you again soon."

Lewis closed the door and they looked at each other. "I didn't think that demons ever had a nice thought for anyone -- other than themselves," he said.

"I didn't think a lot of things, Lewis," Gerta said as she put her arms around him. "I didna think that I'd ever see my brother, ever. And now I find that he's livin' close by and he's a big strong kobold who kills goblins and has a girl who loves him very much. I'm happy fer him and I hope that I can know him better soon. I didna know that I could change my skin to look more human. I didna know that anyone could ever treat me as well as ye do and now to understand ye is more than I'd have ever dreamed."

She kissed him and she smiled, "Grrrta happy."

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Tereth sat against a wall in misery. The only reason that he had to act at all was the very real terror that he held of more pain like what he'd experienced. He got up and walked down the stairs into the basement. Then he went back upstairs and sniffed thoughtfully.

Odd, he thought. He could just pick up some residual female scents; five upstairs and only two in the basement. He looked around a bit and smelled a bit more. He picked up a male's scent. He wondered why a bunch of females would want only one human male. They could have had him if he'd only known, he thought.

Then one of the scents rang a bell in his head. It was hers, he just knew it. He noticed the burned down candles all over the room and wondered about that, but not too hard. He was far more interested in a pad of sticky notes that came to his attention. The top one had only one word written there in a feminine hand. He thought about it and it came to him that it was written in English. He wondered about it as he walked up the stairs.

Maybe he ought to check in with his ruler.

No, he thought, what for?

He thought that he might stand a better chance if he just took this and ran with it. He'd see what was what when he got a little closer.

A few minutes later, he was climbing through fourteen thousand feet, headed for a lot higher up and hoping to get at least a feel before he began his descent.

Scotland it was.

But where?

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Toby walked back with the others. He wasn't visible to human eyes, but his consorts saw him clearly as he walked a little behind, looking around at the birds and the rest of the scenery. He noticed a young pair of foxes running as though it was some sort of game to them, one chasing the other. Zele came to meet them.

"He looks as though he is unaware of things, "Zele said, "and yet, ... we see that he knows, and he understands."

Maezou nodded, "He knows. He's just being Toby. He knows everything, but he can put it aside while he admires the day."

Lily passed her daughters on the way into the upper hall. "Tereth comes," she said, "perhaps three hours, or a little more. He cannot fly as fast as we can."

Her daughters nodded and walked out to meet their male. He greeted them with a kiss and then they walked together for a few minutes.

He looked up at the sky and smiled, "You don't have to say it," he said, "your mother told me, and I knew even before that."

They held him for a moment. "What you do now begins this," Maezou said quietly as they looked up at him, "No matter what you do, no matter what any of us do next, this will be the beginning."

"Uh-huh," he smiled, "I've heard that too." He sighed, wanting nothing so much as he now wanted to take them someplace and make love to his women for a day, at the very least.

He decided that it was going to have to wait.

His thought made them smile.

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Grrrta sat on the loveseat in fascination. He'd put on a DVD for her to watch. After getting past the wonder of it, she quickly learned to work the remote and she restarted the movie, wanting then to watch for the story. It took an adjustment that Lewis hadn't anticipated. If one was familiar with movies as a form of entertainment, it was no big leap to stick a DVD into a player and watch. But if you'd never seen anything like that before...

Grrrta listened attentively as Lewis had explained how to change disks and before long, she was sitting on the floor surrounded with DVD cases as he ducked out quickly to buy some food.

He was only gone for less than an hour and a half, but by then, she'd gone through everything that he had, using only the small pictures on the covers to determine whether she was interested or not. After the wonder of the whole thing had passed a little, she'd looked around to see if there were any more.

She found a small group of four DVDs all by themselves at the far end of one shelf. She took them and looked at the covers.

She grinned to herself just after the first one began. These ones held her interest easily. She'd found his small collection of porn.

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It seemed like an odd little fashion show to him when he got back. Grrrta tried on one thing after another, modeling for him inadvertently as she sought for find out how she looked. Lewis knew that she must feel so much like a fish out of water as he tried to help and offer advice.

"I know it all feels strange," he said, "But if I see something that's not working for you, I'll try to help if I can, "he said, "though I'm not much of an authority, Grrrta."

"I know that," she nodded with a small thankful smile, "It's just that I dinna want tae look foolish. If I can just look alright fer ye, Lewis, then that'll be good enough fer me now. I've a lot te learn, I guess."

"That might be so," Lewis smiled, "but then you do have a lot to work with. It's not as though you're unattractive, Grrrta. I guess the way to say it is that it's a matter of presentation, that's all. It's how you make the impression."

Grrrta had gone through her new dresses and tried to pull on her jeans. Never having done something like that before, it was a little awkward, but she managed it. Another problem manifested itself when she tried to pull up the zipper as Lewis indicated.

Lily had caused them to fit well, so it was a little bit of a struggle to get herself zipped. Right then she ran into the issue of not having any underwear while at the same time, getting the full bush of pubic hair that she did have caught.

Lewis jumped up to help. It took several very strange minutes of very careful pruning with a small pair of scissors to get her free.

"I can't wear these," she said, a little saddened, "I liked the way that they felt, though."

"Not to worry," Lewis smiled, "I've an answer for it."

It led to an interesting time where Grrrta watched as he trimmed her as close as he dared, and then amazing her when he got out his mustache trimmer. She wasn't thrilled at first for the buzzing sound that it made, but she liked the results, feeling herself almost bare like that. She stood grinning with her jeans on in seconds and he told her that they fit her very well.

"I'll get you some decent razors sometime and you can shave all of it right off if you like then, but you'll need to learn to be very careful."

She looked at him a little slyly, "Is it what ye'd want me te do?" she asked.

He nodded, "Yes, but I'd only want you to do that if you wanted it as well. I'm not about to tell you what to do. There are enough things that you need to be told about if you want to stay without having me order you about. I think that you must have been ordered about enough before."

Grrrta looked at Lewis a little strangely for a moment or two before she stepped over and sat herself on his thigh carefully. "It happened, Lewis. I can't change it or make it go away. I can only pretend that it didna happen."

She kissed his face and pushed his hair back behind one ear before she touched his cheek. "I wasna free for most of ten years, and it was my mother that kept them off me fer the longest time. I watched while they fattened her at last, and so I knew what te look fer when they'd begin wi' me. I knew they would someday.

I was a bit lucky, I guess," she said, leaning her head against his shoulder. "The butcher died nae long after they ate my mother. His daughter took over, and she used the males for her fun. She'da killed me for the next feast, but I was too skinny and wouldna eat much. Then the next time that the king called fer a kobold to be cooked, she had te use another of the males. She tried te fatten me, but somewhere then, she found herself a goblin male te fuck with and she fergot about me fer a while. The trouble was that she'd ferget te feed me at all then for days at a time -- so I only fattened a little and slow-like."

She didn't tell him about what the cook's younger brother had done the times that he'd come to make sure that she had food. He needed to be drunk to get the courage to do what he wanted, knowing that if his sister found out, she'd beat him severely.

Her eyes drifted as she stroked his mustache a little with her fingertip. She'd never seen something like it, or the way that his whiskers grew out of the skin of his face. No goblin had this. Maybe it was one of the reasons that she liked it so much, though Lewis had warned her that his face would grow too rough for her skin after a few days if he didn't shave. Grrrta didn't care. She liked it.

She looked up a little and noticed that the cottage had exposed roof beams running the length of it. There were hooks in a lot of places so that things could be hung up until they were needed.

She looked at the cut-up bits of leather which had once bound her wrists as they lay in the small trash receptacle in the bathroom, "I wish now that I had a bit of leather," she said, "Some thin strips and some wide ones."

"What for?" Lewis asked, "I've a large piece of cowhide here someplace. I had an old car that I bought to refinish. I bought the hide to recover the seats, but before I could get to it, I was able to purchase a whole new unused seat from a company that sold old car parts, so I never used it. Can you work leather, Grrrta?"

"Aye," she smiled, "if I've got the tools. I'm just wantin' te make a few things. Seein' Thiery and the leather bands that he had on his arms made me remember some things," she said.

"I'm thinkin' of my mother and how she used tae make me little things te keep on my ankle or my wrist when I was little. She told me that it was te look a little nice and tae remind me that she loved me. I used te wear them until they'd fall off. I'd get upset then because I'd lost 'em, but she'd make me another and I always loved that."

Lewis smiled, and in about a half an hour, she was happy as the first of the little things that he was making for her was on her, little thongs that she described to him as he went. The piece of leather that he had was red, to match the interior of that old car that he'd had long ago, but he was thankful for it now, since it went well with her skin and her hair, and if there was one thing that Lewis was discovering that he liked so much, it was to make Grrrta happy.