Then he remembered Annette’s spirit guide was a gray snake, at that thought he became slightly nervous, with a confused and slow but shaky voice he asked “Annette, is that you? Are you here? Who is behind me? Mother Earth, please, allow me to turn around, I’ll stay here, I promise. I just need to see who is here.”
He heard nothing but the normal faint crackle of the small fire used for the steam. Annette was there, he knew it. Who else could make the fire and steam so perfect? And who else had such a strong bond with the spirit world?
He tried to look behind him into the gray cloud, even though his head didn’t move he strained his eyes to their corners, it was hard to see, there was nothing but thick smoke. Was she still back there or had she left? “Annette?” he wished his voice wasn’t trembling but he couldn’t help it, he knew there was a presence in the steamy lodge that was greater than both of them.
Despite the cool night air in front of him, sweat was running off his face, trickling down his neck. His hands were still glued to the door frame so he was unable to wipe the beads of sweat away. With his arms and legs spread open, he was facing the outside, Todd noticed the steam coming from behind was great despite the door being wide open; he knew it wasn’t natural, even his best fires were never that good. The snake slid along his shoulders, sticking its forked tongue out to taste his salty skin, it licked and tickled his skin, the hairs on the back of his neck rose in shock, the snake moved with purpose, it was enjoying him. Still, the voice said nothing and then the snake found its way inside his shirt, its slick thick scales felt soft to him. Then he heard the voice of glass say “TWIN MORPH”. Now there were two snakes running around inside his shirt and still he could not move or twist out of his position.
Todd had disturbing thoughts. How was he being held there? Was Annette controlling the snakes or had she somehow turned into one of them? Why wouldn’t she talk? Was she in a trance? Did she know what she was doing? Did she even know who she was touching? He knew the ash cloud was from the Great Spirit, but why were there snakes? Annette must be there. He wished he could turn around and not be spread-eagled, vulnerable, facing the wrong way, even though he couldn’t see anything through the darkness at least he’d feel more like he was meant to be inside the manifestation with Annette. What if he had erred by entering the lodge? Did she want him to be there?”
“Annette can you hear me?”
The tingly sound of glass shards crescendo into Mother Earth’s voice “What does it matter if you are alone or not? Is my ash not soothing to you?” her voice sounded hurt and the snakes writhed and squeezed Todd with an uncomfortable pressure, hinting at hidden reserves of power.
After a moment the snakes eased up and resumed their courses along his torso.
“No one can see you and have you ever been able to see me? You’re safe inside my cloud of ash.” her voice took on a hint of a sinister smile as she continued, “Anyone else who enters will be sanded with hot wind and shredded by millions of splintery shards of razor-sharp glass. It is by my power alone that you are unscathed.”
The voice quieted then “I would think you would want to be alone inside my cloud. I’ve waited for you Todd, waited until you, the bull, were ready for me. I set you apart and chose you from the moment you were born... and now you are ready.”
The snakes dipped low to fully explore the hottest part of his flesh, the surprising sensation aroused him - it caught him off guard. He couldn’t tell exactly what they were doing, but it felt good and caused his breath to stop in his throat. He thought it odd that Annette would be like this with him, she had never given any indication of desire. It seemed so carnal in the presence of the Great Spirit. Even though he didn’t understand it all, he was thoroughly enjoying the ash-filled cloud. It all felt so right to him, Mother Earth must be blessing his union with Annette, it was meant to be. He wondered who was talking to him, was it Annette or the Earth itself, wanting to be with her creation? Was Annette so connected with the Great Spirit that they spoke and acted as one being?” He didn’t know, couldn’t know the difference without seeing, but he wanted to stay right where he was for the rest of the night, soaked with sweat. The thought of being with the woman he’d loved for years brought him to full arousal, if only he was able to move....
The sinuous snakes slithered up his body while their nimble tails continued down below, he couldn’t stop them, he didn’t want to. He felt intoxicated with desire. The snakes latched onto his neck, there was no venom, just wet mouths and fangs, sucking his salty skin, kissing it, bruising it, their mouths working in rhythm with their tails, titillating him with the perfect amount of lust-bringing pain; it felt good, but it hurt also, and it was getting to the point where Todd would have ripped them from his neck if he could. Then the twisting snakes let go and bit his shirt instead. He heard the splintered voice laugh in pleasure, how did Annette make her voice sound like that? The snakes became violent and together they ripped his damp shirt away from his body, freeing him and exposing his wet skin to the steamy night air, the sensation made him dizzy.
Then he felt the twin snakes wrap around his bare, sweaty chest, their tails knotted together behind his back and their mouths clinched his nipples. Mother Earth said something at that point so splintery and jagged Todd couldn’t understand. The hard scales changed to soft, smooth human skin. In a matter of seconds, a naked woman was standing behind him with her arms wrapped around him, and her hands running over his wet chest and hard nipples. She felt great up against him her breasts were full - he wanted to turn around so badly.
With the same other-worldly voice she giggled and said “Shall we test what I gave you?”
Todd felt the release to move and he spun around. Even as close as the woman was to him, all he could make out in the dark smoke was her long, black hair flowing down around her tan skin and her dark eyes. “Annette” he whispered. The Native American woman was hauntingly beautiful. Without another thought, he took her down and gave her everything he’d been given, all of it, every ounce of power, semen and might, he was sure that even though it had only been a day the rooster’s gonads had already enhanced his own body. The whole experience was indescribable for him and he made sure it translated to her as well. He gave her so much of himself that he fell into a deep sleep only moments later.
He woke later in the night, there were headlights headed up the driveway, he looked beside him for Annette, but there was no trace of her, he did find a few shreds of his shirt and he had a wallop of a headache. A smile fell across his face. That had been some wild sex, he still felt exhausted from it. He wondered who could be driving up at that time of night in a yellow piece-of-junk sedan.....
Chapter 5
Kalara’s electrical cloud was a welcomed change to the mangled body she was in just a heartbeat ago. But even in the form of ball lightning she was sickened by remembering the smell of her burning feet and of touching her own living entrails. As the anchor vaulted her away Kalara’s consciousness received the final pain messages from her neurons, she was pain free. She wanted to stay that way forever and began to panic at the thought of taking form again. The spell was hurtling her to the next anchor and she could do nothing to stop the inevitable landing. She tried to veer off but with no eyeballs she couldn’t tell if she did. Maybe she could alter her course and remain as lightning for eternity, causing pain to others and not feeling any herself.
The journey ended all too soon and she was solid again on a rocky outcrop overlooking a small pond. Pain hit her body again causing her to contort. Seeing her splintered leg bones jutting out of her jeans brought on new levels of anguish and she let out a scream. The forcefulness of her scream pushed even more guts out of her belly. Her hysterical eyes found Ravanan’s, he was just as horrified as she was. The last thing she heard was him casting a sleeping spell on her.
Later, she awakened and glanced around. She was in an immense cavern, it was bright enough to see the air was glittering with hints of blue from protective mist. Intense
pain distracted Kalara from seeing much else about her location. Her focus was on the gaping holes in her belly and guts that were dirty and drying out. She clinched her fists and grabbed at the soft furs beneath her trying to escape the pain.
Ravanan had morphed back into his massive dragon base form. He turned his great head towards her and cast “CALM”.
Kalara could feel her heart instantly slow down, her hands relaxed and released their grip. While she disliked being controlled, she was glad to be at peace with the pain. He was obviously trying to help her, not maliciously control her. Why be upset about the spell? Everything was fine. Why be bothered by the pain? It was logical that her body would be hurting; tensing up wouldn’t stop her guts from spilling out or snap her bones back in place. And so it was that Kalara casually accepted the tormenting pain. The pain was over her whole body yet her face was a picture of health and rest.
With an easy voice she notified him “I hurt really bad”.
“Those wounds are deep. The best thing to do is to just sleep and let your body heal.”
She was glad they had stopped to rest. Being in such a peaceful state allowed Kalara to notice Ravanan was terse and edgy, even though she hadn’t known him very long she could tell the dragon was bothered by something.
“Where are we?” Kalara asked quietly.
“We’re in Black Blade Lair, my lair. It has a protective mist so you can recover without further harm. I have suspicions about these wounds. Did you notice it happened to you after the dome faded away?”
“I did.”
“That dragon must have magically hexed you with a continuous malediction. When my barrier was lifted the curse went directly to you, it was waiting for the barrier to lift so it could attack. If we dissolve this current barrier, the magic will cause new wounds. As it is, you are already hurt and must recover. I believe you will heal and I have a few spells to speed the process.”
“How did you get me here?”
“I kept you asleep through all the anchors. And I’m sure you’ll want me to keep you asleep as much as possible still.”
“But don’t you have some pain reliever – or magic to fix me?”
“It’s called sleep. Be glad you have pain, it’s telling you to fix yourself or die.” Ravanan grumbled. “You speak like one of them. Humans think everything is solved with drugs. You have managed to live for 2200 years without drugs, I’m amazed at how thoroughly you’ve adopted their way of life.”
He was on edge, Kalara was sure of it. However she didn’t feel up to finding out why; it would probably lead to a fight and she didn’t want to argue, “I’ll sleep then. At least I won’t be awake to feel the pain.”
The next few days went by without incident, Kalara was hardly ever awake. Time meant nothing, keeping count of days was the furthest thing from her sleepy thoughts. One thing that changed after she stopped losing blood was what she was sleeping on – what had once been furs was now a bed.
Ravanan came and went. He didn’t press her for any information, just let her be alone. Seeing her strength return one morning he asked her “Have any memories come back to you yet?”
Kalara could tell from the intonations in Ravanan’s voice that he was just as anxious to get answers as she was, maybe more so. She answered quickly, afraid he might interrogate her again, “No. No they haven’t, but I’m used to it. Thank you for taking care of me.”
After not moving for so long Kalara felt stiff. She stretched to work out her muscles. Seeing that Ravanan wasn’t going to proceed with more questions she asked “Who would have done this to me? And for what reason? I know it wasn’t you.”
“It had to be the same dragon that banished me and took your mind, I’m sure of it.” Ravanan’s quick answer revealed that this was all he had been thinking about since it had happened. He lifted up his head a little to shift focus “But don’t worry, you’ll live to fight again. Your skin is healed, the inside will take a little longer still you are doing fine.”
Kalara winced as she propped herself up and wondered if she would ever be able to stand after her leg bones had poked out of her legs. She looked down to check out the wounds and holes in her jeans and saw a black robe instead. It was a thin ornamental robe that should not be worn in cold weather or by modest people. It was the kind of robe that warranted exclamatory remarks. She looked over at the dragon and demanded “What is this I’m wearing? Where are my clothes?”
Ravanan was smug. “You needed something to wear. That robe was all I could find with a healing enchantment on it. You’ll want to keep it on until you’re fully whole again.”
“What was wrong with the clothes I had on? You didn’t need to get this for me.”
“Your clothes were ruined, I burned them.” Ravanan reasoned, then swiveled his long neck and turned his giant head away from her to go back to sleep.
Kalara patted herself down and felt her broken body. Her leg bones were set back into place and the skin was healed over the exit points. Kalara examined the soles of her feet, new soft pink skin appeared ready to walk on. She recalled the pieces of melted tissue that hung from her feet and shuddered, she decided to wait a while longer before trying them out afraid she might step on a sharp stone. Her stomach felt smooth again, it too was healed with fresh perfect skin where just days ago there was none.
Eyes closed and feigning sleep, Ravanan was quiet, his shiny scales flexing with each breath as he listened to Kalara move around. He wasn’t in a hurry, practically ageless having lived for over two millennia, he would get what he wanted – one step at a time. He could wait before pressing her for clues if he had to, but he did want them soon.
In the quiet cave Kalara wondered what the dragon intended by dressing her in that robe and what thoughts were going through his head. It wasn’t just any old robe she was wearing, it caused certain thoughts to happen. Its design was formal, with a slight Spanish flair, and fitted at the waist. She looked down at her cleavage and how the robe decorated it. Her thoughts progressed, reminiscing about how good his human form looked and the warmth she had felt in the mall.
It had been an unusual feeling of heat, it was memorable. It came from him and she enjoyed it. Was he secretly doing something to her? It was uncanny how he had turned to look at her after she started feeling the warm sensation but what did his look mean? Maybe he was pushing the warmth towards her, influencing her, after all he could do powerful things.
Kalara had to find out about that warmth and what Ravanan’s intentions were. She couldn’t do magic, all she could do was talk – and anything she said would reveal her desire for him or confirm that he was successfully causing her to desire him; either way he would win, but so would she. The one tool she could use was what all females were born knowing: discern what is said, twist and repeat it back, then pick out the truth from the battle that followed. She readied herself for battle.
Dressed as she was, Kalara felt odd talking to a large dragon about such a sensitive subject and decided to try to balance things out visually. That way at least she got to enjoy looking at her opponent. She called out, “Ravanan, are you still awake?”
He turned his head towards her. Kalara stood up, her full height barely reaching his chin. He was so close to her. She pulled her shoulders back and lifted her face, not wanting to appear afraid, and said “I want to ask you something but can we discuss it as one ‘human’ to another ‘human’? Can you transform into your human persona for me?”
Not necessarily bothered, but neither did he look happy, Ravanan answered her, “Kalara, you are not human, you should get used to seeing dragons, you are one. But perhaps starting on your end and working backwards is better than immersing you into a foreign world and hoping for an epiphany. I’ll do this for you. MORPH TO HUMAN.”
His morph and draping spells worked quickly and Kalara was disappointed that she didn’t get to see much of anything before he was wearing his sapphire robe.
Kalara barely had time to start feeling his warmth before
the wizard approached her. Not detecting any temperature change from him, she simply said “Thank you.”
“It’s no matter, other than a small amount of magic. What do you want to ask?”
She looked down shyly at the bedding she was laying on “When we were at the mall and I was eating, I felt something. It was you, I felt a warmth coming from you. What was that? Why did I feel it?”
“That warmth is my aura. It can be detected from two striking distances away when it’s fully charged.”
“Do I have one?”
“All dragons have auras. I feel yours, it’s full right now. It was how I was able to find you, along with using seer pools. Auras are an extension of the magic in our blood and announce our presence to others. Our magic recharges with food, the magic energy builds and causes an aura around us. They can be warm or cool depending on where the dragon hatched and they never change. Auras defend us when threatened, the color of a dragon determines how; azures like myself are electrical, and as an amethyst dragon, you are defended by frost despite your warm aura. It would be foolish of any creature to come in too close to an irate dragon.”
Kalara remembered his interrogation, he was very close to her then and could have killed her with a thought. She pushed that unpleasant moment from her mind. “Well it was strange how it just kind of turned on with me. So why can’t I feel your aura now?”
“It would seem your magic awareness is slowly returning to you. Rather than abruptly recalling it and the full capability of magic being available to you, it seems to be a function of belief. You’ve been brainwashed by human ideas and they permeate your thoughts. You need to trust your blood again and then control it. Me finding you and you learning you’re a dragon must have awakened your magic, it’s a start at least.”
“So I started to feel your warm aura but now I can’t?” Kalara charged on towards her goal of discovering the truth “You turned to look at me as soon as I started feeling it. How can I know for sure if I’m in control of myself or......” She hesitated to reveal her thoughts and took an extra second to add the right inflection to her voice. “.....if you are commanding me to do and feel things, manipulating me?” She quickly asked.
The Cursed Dragon Page 7