Grandal

The women claimed our first winter together was definitely the easiest ever for them including their life before Grandal. I had built them a large smoke house that was full with meats and fish.

I built a new cheese aging room when I noticed how much cooler it was on the north side of the small hill behind the village. I dug out the side of the hill then built a tall roofed shed to its side. The temperature of the shed remained evenly low.

I placed benches around the pool. We were all in it often and mostly naked especially as the women's bellies expanded. We really loved to be in it when the rest of the world was buried in snow.

Most women loved to sit directly under the waterfall so I put boulders there for them to sit on but the water cascading down was too hot for me so I never sat there.

I had diverted some of the warm waters of our pool to surround each cabin, the courtyard, barn and parallel to the walkway towards the latrines. I had covered the path to them.

I discovered that the latrines sat over a small cave and the water from the pond just flowed through it. A fine benefit of that was that our butts were warm as we sat. I added a butt size tub of fast moving warm waters to sit in on the way back from the latrines. It was partially exposed but since we all wore tunics it was fine for all of us. That water immediately ran underground to join the cave water.

Months later I discovered where the latrine water came out as I was hunting boars half a day's ride away from the village. The pond waters from the latrines merged into a fast running stream. The stream did not merge with our river. I ceased to worry about that.

Eight pregnant women changed the logistics of our community and I found myself helping with every aspect of communal life. My chores increased as time went by and had me running ragged as the children were born. My son with Belina was born first. We called him Artur.

Eventually I had five daughters and three sons. All my sons looked like me, my girls looked like their mothers but all had blondish hair.

After the children got old enough to be each other's best friends two of the women decided they wanted another child, Kate and Nuna. I managed to accommodate them. Kate and Nuna gave birth to daughters less than a day apart, Kiley and Carlotta. They were my last two children.

Grandal was very pleased and allowed the children to run roughshod over her. She did tell me the only one that could hear her was Kiley but expected others to do so in time, especially Carlotta.

Kate was one of the three that could hear Grandal along with number one, Anushka, and number nine, Numa.

The numbering was by age and they had come up with the system when they played games with prizes. The order in which they were sacrificed to Grandal was nowhere near that except Anushka was number one on both lists and Numa was number nine on both lists. Kate had been the second to be sacrificed.

Carlotta's mother Numa, was very reserved, except with the others on my bed. Mother and daughter seemed to have the ability to sense what others felt or needed. Numa did what she would help them herself.

I later learned that there were rumors in the village that Numa was a witch. Those rumors likely accounted for her nature and for being the last set out to be sacrificed even though there was evidence she may not have been a virgin.

Kate told me that rumor was true and it was her mother that volunteered her to be sacrificed. Numa was happy she was chosen, not because she was ready to die, she already knew Grandal would not eat her, but because things at home had become untenable. I began to understand why her family had left town.

When our daughter Carlotta sensed someone needed help she would tell either Kiley, or me or her mother who that was and we would help them.

Being set out for a dragon had made each woman a bit vulnerable somewhere in their psyche.

Kiley and Carlotta were inseparable, best friends from the start. Artur was close to them, a real big brother.

He and I were very close. Artur was the first to watch and then help me with my chores. He had a partial ability to communicate with Grandal, he somewhat knew what she wanted but could not really hear her. She could hear him easily. Grandal loved him.

Nan had her puppies and they hung around for a while but eventually all disappeared into the woods and never returned except for one daughter. She and Nan lived with Anushka for many years.

I took trips into the town about once every six weeks and bargained for materials but had to spend another gold coin for cloth and adornments for the women. I brought even more colorful cloths and our village suddenly became a fashion spot. It did cross my mind I was spoiling them. But I was being amply rewarded.

I became the towns most trusted medical person and as it turned out I had to assist with childbirth nearly each time I was there. I had experience in that task.

I taught my sons all I knew about being a man but I was the only man they knew so when they were old enough to have meaningful conversations I took them into town with me. I introduced them to Gronk first.

My daughters wanted to go too so I began taking them along with Kate and sometimes Anushka. I introduced them to Gronk's wife Porfi.

Kate had changed quite a bit over time and was not recognized. Anushka's family had just been passing through as spring approached and was exchanged for supplies and left behind. She had spent three days tied to the stake before the Dragon found her.

Kate's family had been keeping an eye out for the Dragon and intended to follow it and kill it. But they did not find the women for many weeks and were stunned to find them alive and well and in love with the Dragon. Anushka and Kate lived in an abandoned cabin near the hot pond. It was small and dilapidated. The construction of the village started then.

Grandal never trusted the parents and never showed herself while they were there but they knew she was watching them.

The third set of parents, Fika's, were carpenters and they decided to build cabins in a circle expecting the Dragon to bring more sacrifices there. They seemed to be a bit disappointed when they learned there would be no need to build another cabin.

Our village had twelve buildings by then anyway..

I did think all of the women would return to town since everyone there knew the Dragon did not eat people but the women wanted not part of that and still resented being set off as a sacrificial lamb.

Our village was now in its fifteenth year of existence, I had been there for the last ten of those.

I constructed a much bigger wagon and Cha's daughters had the task of pulling it. I unfortunately no longer had a wolf or a crow as companions by then, Ella had died shortly after Nan did. Both had lived long pampered lives with us.

Over the years each of my children decided to stay in town and married there. Kate and I found ourselves in a village of old people. We were now probably in our forties, Anushka and Belina may have been in their fifties.

Grandal stayed away for longer periods of times that sometimes stretched into months. She was surprised and saddened when she came home and noted all the children were gone.

None of us felt old and did not act old, there was a lot of sex going around and with no children in our mini village most of it happened in the hot pool. By then sex among the women was common although I got to fuck at least one each time I joined them there, after I fucked Kate.

Fika decided she wanted to try sex again and found she loved being fucked from behind. I decided she probably simply didn't want to see it was me fucking her.

Grandal was amused by our games.

We suspected the hot pool was keeping us healthy but none could think of a reason how that could be. Still, we all looked good. Somewhat older but good.

I was now going to the town every other week. Some of my now grown children would ride back to the village with me and stay with their mother until I returned to the town. Artur and Carlotta came with me on every other trip, neither had yet married, but all of my children eventually accompanied me. Many of my children asked if they could bring their children and spouses and we agreed to allow that.

Kiley always visited us with one of her two children but never both children and never her husband. Her mother and I worried about that.

I had noticed that Grandal was avoiding us when spouses and grandchildren were present. I assumed it was that she did not want to scare them.

I assured her she could not scare anyone.

"You see me with your heart. But I am a Dragon," she had said.

It was the second time she had said something like that to me. The first time was said with a young cheery voice and with pride. That time the voice was strong, mature, but with a tinge of sadness. There was maturity in her voice.

She did tell me that human knowledge of her location was not a good idea since there were a lot of strange humans that would try to do her harm just because she was a Dragon. I reluctantly agreed.

She once related to me that the battlefield in which we met had been overrun by a mud slide and buried the remains of the few bodies remaining although she could see the outline of the dark dragon's body under it.

"My roost ate every savage and most of your troops that day we saw them. No one went near the dragon and all were curious as to why it was there. Mom knew and my brother understood she did. He knows his big sister is alive and big enough to kill him.

All were impressed and worried to see it had been killed by humans. Mom and Gula were awed to learn the dragon had been killed by a single man defending me. The dark dragon will turn to stone soon," Grandal said.

I asked her what she had seen, where mountains, rivers and forests were and I made a map. She helped me with it and we used the distance from the village to the town as one standard measurement, one days horseback ride.

She could show me images of what she saw inside my head. My mind could fly with her. Once she showed me a dive from altitude that scared the hell out of me then she giggled. I swatted her butt. She licked my face.

Once she showed me a young human couple fucking from her vantage point within the woods. As they had reached their orgasms she had walked past them and just nodded in their direction then took to the sky.

I wondered if those two had ever fucked again.

Grandal stayed away for longer and longer periods and stayed with us for shorter periods. The only children she was now allowing to see her were Artur, Kiley and Carlotta. Those three told us they suspected the others would not be able to keep the secret of Grandal's visits from others.

One early spring day we temporarily gained a bear and her cub. She and her baby had run into the village startling the women. None were scared as Grandal was dozing in the plaza. They did become concerned when they saw the very large bear that had been chasing the mother and her cub rush in after them.

The bear never saw Grandal even though he was right next to her. The stories about the poor vision of bears was apparently true. When he threatened the women Grandal simply ate him then resumed her nap. I am sure the bear still had no idea what had happened to him as he began to be digested.

It was then that I noticed how much Grandal had grown. She was now more than three times as big as she had been when we met.

The cub's mother was confused but saw that the bear threatening her cub had vanished. It was a while before she saw her cub cuddling to Kate and Nuna as they fed it berries. Anushka took the mother bear a bowl of fruits and after she calmed began to eat as Anushka pet her. Grandal had apparently assured her she was among friends.

The two stayed in the village until winter and the cub would come by for fruit and petting until he became an adult.

Grandal and I had fun talking about where she had been and what she had seen. What she had not seen was many Dragons.

Sometimes she and her sister would travel together for months, she said. She spoke fondly about spending ten days sharing five beached whales with her and being so full they were unable to fly for three days. I loved hearing about their adventures together and said wished I could meet her.

One early evening Grandal asked me to meet her at the sandbar near the river. I had not seen her and she had not flown over the village but I went there quickly . Her sister was with her. She was about half the size of Grandal but much bigger than Grandal was when we met. I knew there were ten years between them so the size difference seemed about right.

"Hi Gula, welcome to our home," I said before I kissed her.

"You just got her all atwitter even though I told her you would kiss her. She wants to know if you realize she is a Dragon."

"Actually she is the sister of a Dragon I love and that is a good enough reason to kiss her. Please tell her to come to the village and meet the others, they will be honored and happy to meet her.

"No children around now?"

"Just Artur."

"Hop on my back, you need to learn to fly."

I did and was up on her back as she lifted into the air. I knew immediately it had been a bad idea on my part but tried to keep her from seeing I was terrified. She of course could tell I was so she gently rose high enough for me to see the town and that took my attention. From the air the town did not seem far at all.

"See how the big river comes close to your river but they don't merge. They were once the same river but yours was cut off. That's why it has little current. Your river is actually a long skinny lake."

We were gliding effortlessly by then and I was just mesmerized at the view. We flew close to the town then circled over small mountains between the town and the village and I saw other hot ponds.

Then I got a surprise, Gula talked to me.

"We have seen what you see below in many different places. What has happened to the land here happens everywhere there are mountains and rivers. Hot water ponds are common around here but completely absent elsewhere."

"I envy you your point of view. Have you two found any more beached whales?"

Both giggled and Gula said, "No, we did swim with a live one for a while trying to figure out a way we could catch it but it was bigger than both of us and was probably trying to figure out how to catch me."

We laughed and I took in the sights until I said, "The village women are watching us."

We were now gliding over our village and all were out looking up.

Grandal said, "Yes, they are exited they see two Dragons and you riding in the air. Gula, they know its you."

"In that case," she said and and headed to the village in a gentle glide.

Grandal allowed her to land first then we followed her down.

I was unhappy to be back on the ground.

The Dragons stayed for two days and we heard them tell countless stories about each other including some embarrassing moments.

Anushka did most of the translating but Kate, Numa and I did some of that too. Artur was frustrated he could not get the stories directly but I told him to just relax and listen to Anushka which he eventually did.

It was obvious that the sisters adored each other, that Grandal was Gula's hero. Gula was stunned to find herself with human friends. People that did not think of her as a monster just because she was a Dragon. Humans that liked her. She became fond of us.

Sitting between them as they told stories was a very enjoyable experience for all of us, even grumpy Fika. Gula was asking for kisses and getting them before she left.

Grandal stayed another two days and I asked her how Gula managed not to get exiled like she had been.

"Because the only ones who know were Mom and me. I made the mistake of babbling about it at the roost soon after my first flight over human habitats. The Queen was scandalized and my brother incited the others against me.

Mom told Gula my story as soon as she could comprehend it so she has never told anyone. You are the first human she has ever spoken to.

Mom has never spoken about her adventures with humans when she was young except to tell us that her pilot had died many years before I was born, burned at a stake. She will not tell us what she did to the town but she has never had a human friend since."

I learned that the sisters had always met at a prearranged area and traveled together for months at a time. At times they crossed oceans and seas. They stayed in the northern part of our world often and were comfortable in ice and snow.

I expressed my surprise since reptiles did not like cold but she corrected me and said Dragons were not reptiles but survivors of creatures from very ancient times.

"We are very hot blooded as you already know," she said with a seductive voice then licked my face.

I took it like a man and she continued, "There were once seven different groups of us, three are likely extinct. Two live in lakes and seas but they are even rarer than we are.

My kind still number in the low hundreds but Mom has died. She was very old."

Grandal described the ones she had seen and the ones her mother had seen. The three that were likely extinct had last been seen by her grandmother who had always referred to them as dunces. None had been seen in nearly two hundred years.

Grandal had not seen any male dark dragons since the one that tried to kill her. She had only seen one female and since she was mature and alive deduced she had never mated. They would soon be extinct if they were not already. There apparently were no males.

As time passed on each of Grandal's visits we noticed her colors were changing. She no longer had patches of yellow on her wings. She now also had a large feathery tassel-like growth on her tail and a feathery crest on her head. There was a definite scar where her wound had been but scales covered most of it. She had told me the truth, she was a young Dragon when we met. She still loved being kissed and caressed by all of us.

Sometimes Grandal stayed with us a couple months. Most of her visits lasted about two weeks. She spent most of those visits dozing.

Noises from her digestive system sent everyone to giggles at times. I thought her visits were mostly for digestive purposes and digestion was more efficient when she was relaxed. She was relaxed among us.

The town still presented her with a boar each solstice but the offering were no longer a plea for mercy but as rewards for keeping their town safe from bandits. Grandal stopped claiming her prize when it became a town spectacle.

When she was home I spent most of my time with her. We went flying at times and at times Kate flew with us riding on Gula. Gula would visit us each time Grandal did but did not stay as long as her big sister did.

Time passed and I was surprised when I realized that more than two years had elapsed since their last visit. She knew we worried about them so three times during that spell we heard them in our heads as they flew past.

Three years later my daughters Kiley and Carlotta returned to town. They had a job to do they said, take care of Grandal's egg.

Grandal's last flyover had been as she was seeking a suitable mate. She had told no one except Gula and had demanded she not tell me. They were arguing about it as they flew over the town. Kiley and Carlotta had heard them. They of course told their father.

Grandal had worried that I would be upset.

"That would have been silly," I said.

All of them agreed. I suspected there was something I should not have liked about their unanimous agreement.

We had dismantled the roof over the courtyard years before when it became obvious Grandal would no longer fit under it. It was gone before Gula's first visit.