Part 1 of ???

Straining against the powerful contractions that wracked her body, the laboring woman pushed with all her strength. She bore down on the child fighting to be free from her womb, and with a final scream of pain and effort, the infant’s head appeared between her legs. The midwife attending her cleaned its mouth with a perfunctory swipe and sucked on its nose to clear it of the birth waters.
“One more big push, My Lady” she said.
The woman grunted in response, gripped her legs and bore down on the child still inside her. With that, the child’s head rotated counter-clockwise, its shoulders emerged and it slipped out like it were covered in pig fat.
“Well done, My Lady, well done.” the midwife looked at the exhausted woman who had lain back on the bed. 
“It’s a girl master.“ said the midwife. “And a powerful one at that.”
The wriggling infant in her hands began to mewl as in response to this statement. Her tiny mouth producing more sound than one thought an infant could utter.
“Ssssshhhhhh, little one.” the midwife cooed, “sssshhhhhhhhh. You will have your milk soon. There, there little one, it’s all right.” She muttered these comforts as she began to wipe the afterbirth from the baby’s face. She could not yet wrapped her as she was still connected to her mother. 
“One more little push My Lady.” the midwife said to the exhausted woman on the bed.
“One more and she’s free.“
“I don’t want her to be free of me.” whispered the woman, tears streaming down her face. “I don’t want her to be free yet.” Sweat had plastered her hair to her face and neck, and  was trickling down her chest in rivulets between her breasts.
“Let me hold her, please.” she pleaded in a hushed voice. “Then I will push, I promise.”
When the midwife hesitated the woman began to plead, “Please Harianna, please, you know what is to become of her and me once she is free. Let me hold her just once, for one precious moment!” The woman still spoke in hushed tones, but panic had begun to creep into her voice.
With a glance over her shoulder towards the shadows in the corner, the midwife handed the woman her baby. 
“Oh she is so beautiful.” she whispered  and gently touched the child’s face with her fingertips.
“You will break many hearts, my dear, starting with mine.” With that the woman moved to put the child to her breast.
“My Lady No!” the midwife cried.
With fearsome haste the shadows from the corner coalesced into a large dark form that moved with lightning speed across the room. Tremendously large talons could be seen moving towards the woman and her innocent child. The talons rose up above the woman and came down swiftly between the infant’s mouth and the awaiting breast. With the sound of tearing flesh, cracking bone and air escaping from the woman’s lungs, the Dragon sunk his weapons deep into her chest. 
Harianna fell to the floor with a hard thud, then quickly scrambled to get out of the way. From the floor she stared up at the creature, her eyes wide with horror.
“My Lord, what have you done?” Her words came out breathlessly.
“Take the child.” said the dragon.
She hurried to comply, her hands shaking in fear and disbelief. She checked the infant and was not unsurprised to find her whole. As fearsome as Martheus was, he needed this child and would not harm her. Still standing between the dead woman’s legs she looked to Martheus for her next orders.
“I need the cord, midwife, quickly! Cut her open if you have to, she’ll not feel it now.”  Martheus gently withdrew his talons from the dead woman’s chest.
“Why Maderra? Why would you do this to me?” The dragon’s voice was thick with grief, and great tears began to fall from his giant amber eyes.
The Harianna reached over and began to pull gently on the umbilical cord still attached to both mother and child. The placenta slowly slid out and fell to the floor with a wet splat.
Kneeling on the floor, she laid the infant on a mound of cloth alongside her, she then tore two pieces of the cloth to tie off both ends of the umbilical cord. One near what would become the child’s navel, the other, as close to the fallen placenta as possible.  With a deft, practiced motion Harianna cut the cord in two places so the blood that was contained within the cord would not leak out. Still holding the knife, her hands stained with innocent blood, she held the tie that had bonded mother and child up to the beast towering over her. As she looked up at him she could not help but notice how the torchlight danced across his scales in rainbow flecks of light. Nor could she deny the majesty of his massive dragon body. He stood before her, reared up on his hind legs, his long neck curled up towards the ceiling and back down so his wedge shaped head hung between his front legs.  The eight spikes, four to each side, which radiated off the back of his head, could easily impale a small child.  His tail, equally as long as his neck, curled down toward the floor then back up to stand next to him like a brother, ready to defend. As though the Great Martheus needed defending. Being a blue dragon, he feared no one. Also being the largest and oldest in the land helped as well.  Well, oldest of the Offspring anyway. His mother, Felund, was by far older and wiser than he. She was however a great deal smaller. She was a Faerie dragon, rare in this land, and any other for that matter. But Martheus had survived the last 4000 years only because of his mother’s wisdom.  When Martheus’ first Bond Mate became sick almost 3900 years ago, Felund had known that her only surviving son had to live to fulfill the prophecy. Most dragons have only one Bond Mate in their lifetime. They are born with them and they die with them. But Martheus was different. He had a legacy to fulfill. He was the only surviving heir to Sigthorn the Great.

         With his bloodied talons, Martheus reached out to take the cord. Gently pinching the ends between two talons with each hand, he brought the cord to this mouth. Tipping his head to the side, he placed the whole cord on his tongue, closed his mouth and quickly swallowed.  What could pass for a grimace crossed his ancient face and the sadness in him could almost be felt.
“Bring her to me.” he said, indicating the child
Harianna stood with the babe in her arms, and walked toward the great beast. She knew what to expect next, but her knees still trembled at the nearness of one so powerful. Cradling the child in one arm, she took what appeared to be a dragon talon attached to a golden hilt with her free hand. No metal of man could pierce a dragon’s flesh. Only its own weapons could stand against them. This knowledge did little to quell the fear rising in her chest.  Her breathing was coming in panicked gasps, she stole a glance at the dead woman on the bed. She was supposed to be alive to witness this she thought. Did he have to kill her?
“Quickly woman! Stop your stalling or you will suffer the same fate as her!” Martheus growled.
The dragon’s proximity, coupled with his threats were too much for the woman. She reached out for the table but the world was growing dark too fast. She fainted dead away and fell heavily to the ground. 
“Damn you woman!” Martheus bellowed. When he realized the midwife was going to faint he had snatched the infant from her arms, but his talons were not made to hold infants and they had grazed the child deeply along her left side. Four identical cuts, the mark of the dragon, just as the prophecy had proclaimed.
“Put her on the table Martheus, before you cut her to ribbons.” came a sharp voice from behind him.
“Mother! Thank the Spirits! We haven’t completed the ritual yet.” Martheus’s voice where moments ago had been calm and ancient was now tinged with fear and panic
He turned to look at his mother, Felund a Faeire dragon. She was large for her breed, 6 feet tall with large ornate butterfly wings folded neatly at her sides. Her scales, so fine they looked more like skin were a deep emerald green and shimmered in the torchlight. Her delicate tail and legs were deceptive in that they conveyed weakness where none existed.
“Calm yourself son.” said Felund. “You have thoroughly botched this up but I think we can finish it in time. With that she reached over the table and took his giant paw in her tiny one.  Drawing her talon across his palm with a quick motion she cut him deeply enough to draw blood. Placing his hand above the now screaming infant she allowed his blood to flow into the child’s mouth. The child choked and coughed but swallowed the blood and then started screaming again.  When she released his hand he began to explain:
“Mother she tried to nurse the child, before the ritual had even begun. I had no choice, mother. I swear to you. I had no wish to take her life that savagely. I loved her, you know that. Please understand, I know you loved her too. I had no choice. I didn’t know-”
“I know your heart Martheus.” Felund said cutting him off . “You loved Maderra as did I.” She cast a glance at the dead woman still lying on the bed and heaved a great sigh.
“We can’t change it now can we? Finish the ritual, son. Consume her body, respect her sacrifice. I must see to the child’s wounds and take her to the wet nurse.  Quickly now, or you will follow Maderra into the afterlife!”
Felund ran her paws under the cloth bed the child was pillowed upon, so her talons would not further destroy her flesh. The child had stopped crying and was staring up into Felund’s small triangular face.
“Yes, my dear, you are a powerful little one aren’t you.” She whispered as she carried her out the door.
“We’ll see if you are powerful enough.”

         Martheus did not relish his task. Some dragons loved the taste of human flesh but he was not one of them. Probably from a lifetime of being bonded to them, he thought to himself. He stood next to the birthing bed and stared at the body of Maderra, his Bond Mate, She had shared Shikane with him. The life force, the blending of abilities that is Shikana. All creatures have it, but only a chosen few can share it.  When two creatures share Shikana, their individual abilities increase 100 fold. Simple levitation becomes flight, empathy becomes mind-reading and sometimes mind control. Magical abilities explode with terrific force. The two creatures who share Shikane become one. They feel each others pain, know each others thoughts, separation is impossible. Death of one equals death of the other. This is why Martheus has had many Bond Mates over the years. He cannot allow himself to die. He must fulfill his purpose. He has been skipping from Bond Mate to Bond Mate like stones in a stream to ensure his survival. The guilt he carries is tremendous. For with each change in Bond Mate, the previous Mate must be devoured, or he will die.  Now he stands over Maderra, his latest Shikan Mate, and cannot bring himself to eat her. Cannot force himself to bring closure to the awful thing he has done. Suddenly his vision begins to blur, his chest is filled with a blinding pain and his legs tremble beneath him. He knows what he is feeling. This is what Maderra felt the last moments of her life he says to himself. He reaches out, rips off her arm, and devours it whole. He may not like what he has to do, but he MUST live. Within moments he has devoured the entire corpse and moves to rest in the middle of the room. What comes next should not terrify him, he has done it many times. But his body trembles in anticipation. His vision again begins to blur. A thunderous sound fills his ears and drowns out all thought, all sensation. Martheus becomes the sound. He feels nothing, sees nothing his whole being vibrates with the intensity of the sound. In the next instant he is lying on his back looking up into his mother’s face and his left side is on fire. She is talking to him, soothing him. Then she lifts him and places him in the arms of a woman he has never seen before.  She offers her breast and he takes it. The milk is good and the suckling soothes him even farther. Then he is rudely dragged backward with such force his body is ablaze in pain. His whole being is alive with pain there is no other sensation but pain not even hope of the pain ending, only pain never ending pain.  Faces begin to flash before him. Kanya, Bareyu, Poline, Matteus, Erbine all of their faces frozen in anguish. Olanski, Lusha, Carego, Daria, Molena.
NO!!!! Martheus cries, reaching out for his friends. NO! Please!
But he can’t stop it. It is the same every time. For every Bond Mate, there is a death and for every death there is suffering. Suffering for the one who lives. Martheus must relive each and every death, one at a time. Over 100 of them. The first is Kanya. Sweet, innocent Kanya. Her death was unexpected, she was in childbirth and the child had become lodged within the birth canal and would not move. The midwife had told Felund that she must chose whether to save the child, or the mother.  Felund had ripped her open with her own talons. As the memory passed through Martheus, his body was wracked by the sensation of being ripped apart by his mother’s talons. Bareyu was next. He was a fighter. When his time came he had asked Martheus to fight with him so he could die with valor. Again Martheus was visited with a memory and immediately the pain followed. This time he felt not only the cut of Bareyu’s talon tipped arrows, but the final crunch of his own teeth as he bit his beloved in half.
No more, I can take no more.
But they do not stop. One after the other they parade through his mind and his senses. Death after death after death after death. Finally, after what seems an eternity, he sees Maderra. With her quick wit, and clever ways of making him laugh, she had been one of his most favored Bond Mates. She was not always kind and was often called cruel. But Maderra believed in telling the truth, even when it hurt. Now she lay before him in his mind, his talons sunk deeply into her chest. Her death hurt the most. Not only had her death been physically painful,  but she had sought to thwart his plans to Bond with her child. She had agreed to the sacrifice, even sought out the most powerful of the Sacred Few to conceive the child to ensure it’s power. Only to attempt to send Martheus to the Afterlife. The betrayal was purposeful, and she had worked diligently to hide her thoughts from him, and this knowledge hurt more than anything he had ever experienced. As he lay in agony reliving her death, the knowledge that she could hide her thoughts from him caused Martheus great fear. Those who share Shikan cannot hide anything from each other. He could not hide his true intentions from any of his former Bond Mates.  He had to live with the knowledge that all of them knew that he would one day devour their bodies and leave them behind. He felt not only betrayed but, but. . . vulnerable!
A dragon?! Vulnerable?! Preposterous!
But it was true. Knowing that she could hide her mind while he was left open to her. . it was too much. As the agony of his experience began to drain from his body and mind, Martheus began to be aware of his surroundings. His mother had brought water and linden weed for the indigestion human flesh would invariably bring. The room had been cleaned and the bed removed. There were no traces of the treachery that had taken place here this night. Martheus suddenly felt the need for fresh air and open skies.  Heaving himself off the floor
Start here
he left the room through the only door. Turning left he came to a large door made of ancient oak. Passing through it he found himself in a small circular courtyard encircled by high walls. There was a small pond on the far wall surrounded by willow trees with a stone bench flanking its right side.  The only sounds were the water from the spring that fed the pond, and a dog barking in the distance. Martheus stood on his hind legs and stretched to his full height. Unfurling his wings in a graceful sweep he let out a tremendous bellow of pain and anguish that shook the walls of the courtyard.  Stones began to shake loose and tumble to the ground as Martheus gave voice to his pain and torment.  Bringing his wings down in single strong strokes, Martheus lifted himself out of the courtyard and turned toward the open countryside. Before he left the vicinity of the courtyard, there was a tentative touch at the edges of his mind. A timid request for admittance.
The child he thought. She has already sought me out and wishes to know me. She is powerful. Most children are one cycle of seasons old before they even realize I am there.
I am here little one, he sent to her, rest my precious child and I will be with you soon.
Name, she sent back, Martheus was so shocked at this he forgot to flap his wings and began to fall. He recovered himself and sent to her,
My name is Martheus, little one
No, she sent back, what is my name?
At this Martheus decided to give up on flying for a little while and landed on a mountaintop to gather his thoughts.
Well little one, I have not thought of that yet, he sent to her, I have never named anyone befo-
Cooooollllllldddddd, the child screamed to him,
Martheus concentrated on seeing what she was seeing, if she could send thoughts already, maybe she could send images. Slowly he began to see and feel the sensations the young one was experiencing. He could see the wet nurse standing over the screaming infant, and she was. . .
Martheus let out a low grumbling that grew until it was full fledged guffawing laughter. The wet nurse was changing the infants waste cloths!!! The poor child was cold because she had no cover on her little wet bottom!
It’s all right little one, he sent to her, struggling to contain his mirth, she will be done soon and you will be warm then.
Ooooooohhhhhhh, I don’t like that, she sent back, wait, what is. Oh I like those! MMMMMMMMMMMM  milk. Aaaaaahhhhhhh
Martheus chuckled and sat back to look at the stars. This child was going to require tutoring from moment one. Ah, he thought and heaved a great sigh. No rest for the weary ones. Absently he rubbed his paw on his left side. There was a burning sensation there and he began to wonder what he had done-oh yes. The child had been scarred. She would forever bear the mark of the dragon. She carried his mark on her chest. She was not only his in mind and soul, but now his mark was upon her body. As he sat and gazed at the stars, a gleam began to shine in his eyes. She was his, completely his. Never would this child be able to hide from him. She bore his mark did she not? He would not have to relive the horror of betrayal as he did with her mother. She would never betray him, she was his.
Now about a name for the little one, he said to the stars…