Love as a Form of Binding Ch. 11

For a female imp, it actually caused changes that prepared her for childbearing. Female imps do not have the capability to spray as female demons do, but all the same, their nature caused secretions meant to strengthen the male during and after the act of mating, since imps tend to be at least a little monogamous now and then. It was designed to help the couple to survive.

That would have been all well and good if Thiery was an imp -- but he wasn't.

He was large for a kobold, but he was a kobold nonetheless just as Illa was a little tall for an imp.

Not long afterward, he noticed burning sensations which rapidly ran through his body. He felt weak and fell to the floor in pain two hours later. Everything on him hurt and he writhed on the floor. To say that Illa was upset would have been a rather mild understatement. She ran to meet Mother as she returned. Illa was in tears, not comprehending what was happening, or the cause, and most importantly to her, what might be done to help Thiery. After a quick examination, the older demoness asked that he be brought to the well.

Zele picked Thiery up and carried him through the narrow passageway and down the steps to the old well. She and Maezou laid him out on the floor and acting on Mother's instructions, they kept him wetted down to cool his body from the fever. Toby used some of his newfound abilities to keep the pain from the stricken kobold by keeping him unconscious. The others came to see what had happened.

Illa had a new reason to weep.

Mother knelt beside Illa. "Calm yourself, girl," she said, "We all see how you feel about each other and we understand, but you do him no good like this. What is happening here might have been expected and even explained to you beforehand, but I have been busy with other things."

She hugged the distraught imp and stroked her head a little, "What has happened would normally be something to make your male a little stronger and tougher so that you both would stand a better chance at survival and hopefully be able to rear your young successfully. But that is based on the natural assumption that you would have chosen a male imp as your mate, since that is what usually happens. Thiery is no imp as we all can see and what would strengthen him a little will probably have a much greater effect on him -- if he survives it all."

Before Illa could take all of what the demon had said in and comprehend it, Mother smiled and kissed Illa's cheek affectionately, using the gesture to bring her lips close to the frightened imp's ear. "I might be wrong, and this might be fatal to Thiery, but I don't think so, Illa. I think that what is happening here will be as a gift to you both -- again, assuming that he lives through it. Wait and see, my little friend, and look to his comfort. If he passes through this as I believe that he will, you will need to keep him warm after the fever passes."

Illa hugged her friend for the comfort of it as she worked through what she'd been told. "But Mother, I -- I like him just as he is. He'll stay my Theiry, won't he?"

Mother returned the hug and smiled, "I think that he will." She thought for a moment and then laughed a little, "Do you know what day this is, Lord Tobias?"

Toby thought for a moment. His life had undergone such changes in the past week or so, he'd forgotten the normal passage of the days on the human calendar. His eyes widened, "It's December 23rd -- almost Christmas."

Zele didn't understand, though Maezou did and she explained it to her sister while Illa listened. "What does that story mean to us?" Illa asked Toby.

"Nothing really," he said, "A large part of the human world - that I used to be a part of -- I guess, will be preparing for it." He smiled, "It's another bad time to be a turkey or a goose."

"For them, it's a time of feasting, and religious observances for many on this side of the world and it also is a time for some to travel back and forth to visit with their relatives," Mother said, "I think that no matter what the reason for the celebration is, it marks a time for many humans to be with the ones that they love. I have always liked this time of their year for that reason, though I didn't understand it for a long time. The rest means little to me other than the legend and the history of it and of course, there are many other of their faiths and legends to choose from if one wanted to study them."

She looked at her daughters, "I met a man once, perhaps a hundred years ago. He was very old then and we ran into each other by accident. Once he got past his startled fear of me, he was wise enough not to dwell on it. He said that at his age, there really wasn't all that much to fear anymore. We talked for a time, and I listened as he told of what this feast of theirs had meant to him over his life. From what he said, to him, it was usually a time to reflect on things in a quiet moment.

When he was younger, he would sit with his wife after their young children were asleep and feel thankful for the gifts that he felt that he had been given -- like his wife and their children and the home that they shared together. When I spoke with him, his wife had passed long before, and his children were scattered with children of their own. He was alone and forgotten in a home for old ones. That night was the one after this one -- Christmas Eve to him and those like him.

He had given it a lot of thought, and had chosen and planned most of that year for that night to walk away from the home and sit on a bench alone to remember and hope to pass on himself. I learned some things from him that night and kept him warm as we talked. He thanked me for listening to him and then he fell asleep beside me on that bench."

She looked up, "I granted his wish then and let him pass without pain as he wanted, but it gave me something to think about. The festival of it all means little to me, but I did think about things."

She looked around at the old walls around them with a smile, "This time, I have my children around me, together for the first time, so I am even more thankful to have learned from that old man. I am quite obviously not what their observances are meant to include, but I still like the thought of feeling thankful. The hells are foul and murderous places, but we are not there now, and with luck and good planning, we might have the chance at more of these times to feel this way."

Illa had been listening as she looked at Thiery and tried to keep him a little cool. She hadn't really been looking at any details about him, she was just a lot more hopeful herself that Mother was right in her thinking. She'd only known Thiery for less than a day but, ...

It wasn't until she thought to try to hold his hand that he noticed what had been happening to him. His hand now looked much like hers -- or at least, a lot more like her hand than it had been earlier that morning. He was still shivering with this fever, but he seemed to be somewhat larger to her eyes now.

She found him looking at her and he smiled. Illa thought that she'd been given the same gift twice.

"Thiery? How do ye feel?" she asked softly.

He blew out a little through his pursed lips, "I'm freezing cold, Illa, but I'm feelin' a wee bit better."

They sat him up and Megaera brought him some stew, still hot. As he ate a little, Tisiphone covered him with a blanket. Thiery felt odd in many ways, and a little uncomfortable to find himself the object of the attention of the others, but Illa grinned as she sat with him on the wet floor near the well.

"Ye've changed some," she smiled.

He didn't understand what she meant, "How have I changed, Sweetness?"

"Well, "she smiled, "the last time that we sat together, I could look down just a hair to see straight inta yer eyes and now I'm needin' ta look up just a little. Ye've grown some, Thiery. Nae much, but some."

Mother thought to save them all a bit of time, so she just explained it to him as he sat with his eyebrows rising. "It's not so much that you have grown, though that was what caused much of your pain, it's that you have changed. From what I can see, you are more imp-like than you were, and unless I miss my guess, you are also stronger from what I can see about you. This happened in a matter of perhaps a half an hour while you shook from the fever, though it looks to have stopped now."

He shook his head, "I'm not seein' that," he said, "Not that I'm not believing ye, Mother."

"Try tae sit up a bit more," Illa said as her hand slipped under the blanket. Thiery shivered from what to him was her cold touch, but he did as he was asked.

"See?" Illa grinned, "These werena here before, Theiry," she said as she ran her fingertips over the ridges of his abdominal muscles. He felt the effect and lifted the blanket to look. He stared at them all a moment later as they got up to leave the pair alone. Illa knelt over him and leaned down to kiss him. "I'm glad ye're here - again," she smiled.

When they walked into the hall together, he was still marveling at his new height. He'd grown about four inches, but his thin chest had broadened a little and his limbs now looked a lot more demonlike, though still in a smaller way. Illa went to get him more to eat.

"Am I still lookin' like what ye'd want, Illa?" he asked a little uncertainly.

She laughed, "Thiery, ye were what I'd wanted before and ye're still a good sight to my eyes like this. Don't ye know anything about girls? We like the ones that we like, and that's the way of it." She held out his full bowl, "Here, ye fine-looking impish kobold, eat yer fill and be thankful there's still some left."

Illa's statement only caused Thiery more questions. "What am I now, then?"

"Well, yer no troll, if that's yer worry," Illa laughed.

"You are still a kobold," Mother smiled, "though now you are impossibly large for one. You are still fair for a kobold AND a male imp, and it is plain to see that your girl here is still smitten with you. You also look somewhat more like an imp, though you are still without wings."

"And just maybe you are now strong enough to carry this," Racephet grinned as he held up what was known at one time as a bearded axe for the long drooping lower edge. "I have found a few old things in the tower, in a sealed space inside the walls. We may have to clean out the lower hall, and you will need to lead us into places where you have the memory of it."

Toby's eyebrows shot straight up. "Seriously? He'll need an axe? Why couldn't we just --"

"I make the assumption that anything that is found down there has not fallen in love with gunpowder the way that humans have. We can protect him, Tobias, but he will have to be in front at least now and then," Racephet said as Thiery took the axe and hefted it.

He was surprised. He'd have thought that while he might be able to lift such a thing, he didn't think that he could use it, but clearly, he had been wrong about that. Racephet explained the purpose of the lower edge as he took back the weapon and showed Thiery the motions required. For most of the next hour, Thiery practiced, feeling a little less foolish than he normally would have. Toby watched carefully with his consorts.

"I was worried that giving Thiery something sharp like that would be an invitation to trouble. Maybe it is, but he seems to be managing so far."

"He has lived in a place where these things are still used in matches to entertain the pit master," Maezou said, "It's not uncommon there. I can see Racepet's point but I hope there's not much in the way of opposition in tight places. I'd rather not have Thiery or Illa in front in a narrow place. I wouldn't use them as guides at all, but they've both been down there before, especially Thiery."

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When it happened, it wasn't all that much of an event. They gathered near the doors, though two of the Furies remained near the well, in case there were any connecting tunnels which led there. Maezou and Zele stared at Toby a little, since he'd taken Racephet's advice and developed a new shape for himself, much like the other demonlord. He didn't sprout flames from his back, but otherwise, the two looked very similar, since this shape was better for physical combat.

Mother tried to pull the doors open, but they'd been charmed and stayed shut.

She shook her head, "I can make them open, but they would likely shatter," she said.

Toby looked at the doors and raised his hand. There was a loud crack and the doors fell from their hinges to land on the floor with a double crash.

"I could have done that," Mother smirked.

"They didn't break," Toby said with a shrug.

Mother had to concede the point.

Theiry and Illa slipped in ahead of the rest. She stopped him for a moment only a few yards in.

"Listen te me, Thiery," she said, "I'm needin' tae say somethin'." She slipped her arm around his neck and she kissed him for a second, "I learned somethin' when ye were lyin' there hurtin'. I thought my heart was breaking over ye, so I want te say that I'm needin' you now. I don't ever want tae be alone here ever again, not after knowin' ye. Ye've won my heart, Thiery, I cannae say it plainer than that. So we have tae work together. No runnin' ahead. We stay together, alright?"

Thiery smiled, "Alright Illa. We stay together."

He turned to take a step and fell through the floor to the level below.