Wyvern's Trim and other stories (5 page)

She now put
layers of the spider silk and the resin. It would be seamless when
it was finished. The Baron was watching her as she worked and she
directed Faisal to help her.

The Baron asked,
“What is that stuff made out of?”

She didn’t look
up from her work as she answered, “It is partly made from a resin
from the rubber tree. That makes it flexible and makes everything
else cohesive. This is the first layer. I will do a cross hatch of
the fibres and then the middle layer will be made of woven fibres
with a layer of this rubber resin to keep it all
together.

“
It
is strong enough to take a knife blade though it does leave a mark
on the rubber but with a little heat it heals itself.”

The Baron raised
an eyebrow. “I have no idea what you are talking about but it
sounds amazing.”

Faisal answered
before she could add anything, “It means I will be able to use my
arm like I used to.”

The Baron
whistled apparently impressed but he added a sceptical, “Well, that
is good but what about…”

Faisal shook his
head. “We will work on that next.”

The Baron looked
sad for a moment and said, “She is human, she won’t care that her
husband can’t fly.”

That caught her
attention. “Wait, what did you say? Husband?”

The Baron
nodded. “Ah, I see. We have this problem a lot with
miscommunication between humans and dragons. Okay, let us go back a
few steps.

“
My
great grandfather explained this to me when I was a boy. Dragons
don’t come from earth. They are the wrong shape. Think of all the
animals on this planet. You have things with four limbs or eight
but the ones with six well they aren’t the same. They are bugs with
their bones on the outside and not on the inside like a dragon.
Dragons come from another…”

He looked at
Faisal who said, “Plane. Here but not here.”

The Baron
shrugged and said, “Another Plane. It is a lot like earth but not
our earth. There they are the dominant creature and there are lots
of things with six legs. Well, their world was somehow destroyed so
the dragons found a way to come to this plane but something wasn’t
right. Because they are not native to this world they aren’t
completely in it.”

The dragon
motioned with his hand to indicate the different planes. “We are
out of phase.”

The Baron waved
off his explanation. “Whatever that means. To come completely into
this plane they have to link their life force.”

Faisal added
helpfully, “Cells.”

The Baron
huffed. “She won’t know what a cell is. I don’t know what a cell
is. Well, they have to link themselves to a native creature. This
was discovered almost entirely by accident. But it meant that the
dragons now need humans so they negotiated and it was agreed that
this link or bond could only be done with a spouse.

“
Since the dragons are very literal they ask for a woman’s
hand. As in her hand in marriage. And if the woman gives her hands
then the dragon can bond with her and by dragon law they are
married as well as with human law. The bonding is done through the
hands as that is symbolic to humans and to the dragons. A common
trait between what is essentially alien rites.

“
Faisal here has an issue. He doesn’t have both hands and it
seems that he can’t marry in the same way that dragons usually do.
So he has taken on your mark to show he would have bonded with you
if he could. Some of the dragons might argue with that but the real
question is did it work?”

He looked at
Faisal. He bowed his head. “I am more in phase but not quite. It
seems the branding isn’t the only part of the bonding. Exactly as I
argued.”

The Baron nodded
and turned back to her. “Faisal was the oldest son to his father.
Not many dragon families managed to come through to this plane.
There is one here in Europe and another in the Middle East and some
in Africa and one in the new continent.

“
There used to be one in Russia but the family was wiped out
about a thousand years ago. The dragons can’t breed with each other
here. To have children they have to return to their plane and breed
there but it is extremely dangerous as their planet is almost
uninhabitable.

“
Well, Faisal was disowned by his family. They said that the
chances of him having children were almost impossible as he would
not risk going back to his own plane and even if he did he would
not be considered a suitable mate by any dragon here or there. The
only way for him to have children is with a human and they thought
without the arm he wouldn’t be able to do that.

“
Faisal tried to argue with the dragon council that he did not
need both arms to bond and it seems he is right. Even if the flesh
or dragon form don’t work time will probably drag him into this
plane completely and he will be able to have children with
you.”

Callisto was a
little stunned by what the Baron was telling her. “So you are
saying I’m married to him because I gave him my hands?”

The Baron
motioned to Faisal as he said, “Yes. Plus the brand. When you
finally finish bonding you will have brands as well. It is said the
more compatible a couple is the more extensive the brands. These
couples seem to have more children as well.

“
Maybe it isn’t about being in phase or not but a matter of
degrees. My great grandfather didn’t really explain it much as it
wouldn’t really matter to me. Very few of the dragon kin actually
marry back into the dragon blood.”

Confused she
asked for clarification, “But what is this all about being in
collections?”

The Baron
actually grinned. “Ah, yes. Well, dragons are hoarders but I don’t
think any human can truly understand a dragon’s connection to his
collection. It isn’t an insult. There is a reciprocal nature to a
dragon’s horde. They are made by what they have and they add to
what they have.

“
It
was from before. The dragons were offered women to stop raiding.
Mostly they just ate the woman until they came across one that was
rather interesting. She told stories. Had them in stitches
apparently. After that they started collecting interesting women.
To see if they could have a woman more interesting than what others
had.

“
It
was one of these women that managed to bond to one of the dragons
and pull him into this plane. The dragons still like to collect
interesting women to bond with as that is their nature. The more
interesting the better according to them.”

Callisto added
his own thought. “You were playing match maker. You didn’t even
warn me.”

The Baron
shrugged not in the least apologetic. “He could offer you more than
you could have gotten from any other man so no harm.”

Faisal seemed to
agree with this. “Women tend to marry. Are you saying I am not
acceptable?”

She sighed. That
argument she had with on that first day made a lot more sense. She
had complained about being owned so he had shown faith in making
him her possession so when the bonding or marriage completely came
into being she would be his equal.

He had been here
for over a week and had been letting her order him around and she
knew now that was to show her that he was good husband
material.

Faisal was
definitely different from any other man she had met
before.

Callistor said,
“I don’t like the surprise. The not having a choice.”

The Baron
shrugged. “He’ll probably argue that. You gave him your hand with
no coercion or force. They will never take a woman against her
will. Most woman are practical creatures. Are you saying you are
not?”

She growled at
the Baron. Women did not hold a very respectable role in society
unless they were married and mothers. She had thrown her reputation
away when she had gone to work as a tinker.

If she had been
pretty she might have worried about marriage but she had always
thought she would not have that role. So having fulfilling work had
been all she could have hoped for.

She looked at
Faisal. “Are you going to make me give up work?”

He frowned. “Why
would I do that? You are interesting because of what you
do.”

He had a point.
She started cleaning up. The glove would need to dry and treated
before she could put it on his arm but it was pretty much
finished.

She hadn’t
realised that the Baron had wandered off until he yelped and said
“Bloody hell those freaked me out.”

He was looking
at the spiders.

She sighed and
went over to deal with the lord. “They aren’t
poisonous.”

The Baron backed
away as he said, “I don’t particular care. I just hate those things
they give me the creeps. Why do you have them?”

She looked at
the spiders. They were interesting creatures. “Their webs are what
I make the skin out of.”

Faisal said from
behind her to the Baron, “You don’t have to stay.”

The Baron
chuckled half-heartedly. “I get the message. You want to be left
alone with your lady.”

Faisal showed
him out.

When he came
back in she said, “I’m not ready for sex.”

His eyes were
warm. “I was aware of that. Have I pressured you?”

She sighed as
she answered, “No. Now tell me what you two were talking about when
you said about flesh and dragon form.”

He looked at her
for a long moment then said, “The first to bond was when a dragon
rescued one of the women in his collection. A dragon is not a pack
beast so we don’t often carry people but we will carry our mates.
Back in our world we mate by entwining our bodies during flight.
Apparently our minds see the covering and carrying of a woman as
the same as mating. This might not work as I am not able to
fly.”

Surprised she
said a little sharply, “What?”

He motioned with
his clockwork arm. “The arm that is missing in this form is
actually my wing in my other form.”

That explained a
lot. The project he wanted her to work on was to build him a new
wing. “Ah that is the other project you want me to do. I don’t know
if I can get the joints right. Your friend is better than
I.”

He shrugged.
“That is alright. I have already sent a message for her to come
here. The two of you can make a wing for me.”

She frowned.
“That will be difficult to carry around.”

He shook his
head. “We can carry what we like in the other space.”

He proved this
by pulling something out of thin air. It was a necklace. He
motioned to her and she stepped forward.

He turned her
around and put the necklace around her. “This I had an artist make
over five hundred years ago. He had just made the crown jewels for
the Ming dynasty. The stones go with your eyes. You may have
this.”

She turned her
head to look at him over her shoulde., “I thought a dragon never
gives up something from his collection.”

“
We
will for our mates.” He said nonchalantly.

Her hand
caressed the necklace that was already heating up now that it was
against her skin. “You really do see me as your wife.”

“
Yes.”

She was actually
surprised that she was pleased by the single word
answer.

She asked, “What
about the flesh.”

His hand lightly
touched her hair as he said, “It is considered that since the
bonding happens because of the dragon mating ritual that this could
be duplicated in a human mating ritual. But I have not heard of
this working.”

She gulped. “You
mean to say that we might bond while we having sex.”

He stepped back
to make it clear that he wasn’t asking for sex at the moment as he
said, “Yes. But dragons have copulated with humans before and the
bonding hasn’t happened. I am not sure if it would
work.”

She waved that
off. “Well, it is moot as I am not ready for sex.”

He raised an
eyebrow and asked, “What would make you ready?”

She blushed.
This felt a lot like their argument on the first day they had
met.

She stammered.
“I… well I…”

She let out a
long breath and said, “I don’t like things that I don’t know
anything about. So I think we would need to talk.”

“
Also do.” He said in a warm voice. She blushed and shook her
head but he added, “Little things at first. So you can get used to
them.”

She sighed.
Actually that made sense and asked, “Like what?”

His eyes were
directed at her lips as he said, “Kisses. We will start with that
then touching. When you are comfortable with that we can decide
what else we wish to do.”

She wrinkled her
nose as she thought. “Okay kisses and touching. I can handle
that.”

Callisto placed
a heavy case of steel on the floor at the back of the barn. She was
getting ready to go get another when she heard a commotion outside.
She went to the door of the barn.