The first pink rays of dawn filled the lair, making it appear purple from the protective blue mist as Kalara began to stir in her dream. She was out hunting. The human she was aiming for had found a tree to hide behind. Her bow vanished and Kalara advanced, moving around trees and vines. The thrill of the hunt far outweighed her hunger pains. It was like a dance as the prey skittered from one hiding place to the next with Kalara keeping up at a perfect distance; until the prey entered the black open maw of a giant tree. This was it – there was no escape. Kalara licked her lips with excitement and called forth her green bow as she got in position like a cat hunkering down to pounce. She was really going to enjoy this meal – such hard work was rewarding and feeling the panic of the prey, nothing was more fun. She could almost feel the hot gooshy flesh in her mouth already. It wouldn’t be long now. She took aim, then just as she was about to release the enchanted arrow, Kalara woke up.
Ravanan was in bed beside her, beginning to stir himself. He woke with her and Kalara started to tell him about her dream but he brought her in close and said groggily “It’s easier to show me.”
Kalara snuggled against his chest “You mean the Union spell?”
“Yes.”
“Alright then,” Kalara snuggled into his body and cast “UNION”.
Ravanan softly cast “UNION” and “SCRIBE” and “DREAM AND SLEEP”. He felt Kalara’s body go limp in his arms and he rested himself.
The dream ended the same and jerked them both awake.
Ravanan stretched with a reminiscing look on his face, he chuckled. “That bow is such a dreadful thing, a wicked little bow of death.”
“It’s real?”
“Of course it is, it is one of your most treasured weapons.”
“You’re telling me that dream is real? That I’m a killer?”
Ravanan smirked as he got up and cast “DRAPE SAPPHIRE”. Then he said “That is one way to say ‘dragon’ but it’s such a harsh word; a word more fitting for humans I think.” He pulled his long hair out of his robe and sat down on the bed. “There is no way to know if the dream really happened or not. It seemed straight forward enough, and hunting dreams are very normal. I know that bow is real enough.”
Kalara reflected on how in the dream she had been savagely hungry for hot bloody flesh. Disgust filled her mind but there was also a wild intrigue. She could understand being that hungry, enough to want to eat raw meat – not human meat, but raw flesh of an animal, she could see that. But she’d rather not get that hungry.
Ravanan could read her unguarded thoughts so easy that he nearly nodded and laughed. He caught himself before he did and smiled instead, “Let’s go get your bow, it may be just the thing you need, to feel its delicate carvings and jewels. Holding it once again may bring everything back to you.”
Chapter 8
Todd had a quiet morning, it was his first full day as Annette’s stand in. No visitors had come yet but he was ready, and he kept reminding himself that some days no one would come and then others there wasn’t enough time in the day to help them all.
He thought back to the day before. In Annette’s hasty departure, she had instructed him to remain at the house and carry on with the needs of the tribe. She trusted him and he would not let her down. It hadn’t taken her long to pack and she barely even looked at him. He mentioned Jenniffer’s odd visit in the middle of the night and she hardly even acknowledged it. Todd dismissed her non-reaction because he knew she was only thinking of finding Kalara.
Todd helped Annette pack when he could, but mostly he just watched and thought about the glorious time they had shared only hours earlier. She acted like it hadn’t even happened, and that was probably for the best since it was obviously part of a ceremony. As Annette got in the car to drive away, she gave him the typical half hug and motherly peck on the cheek.
He simply did not understand what Annette saw in Kalara. The girl was loony at best and a waste of time. Annette never talked about how she had found Kalara only that it was in Brazil. To Annette, Kalara was intriguing and an enigma to be studied, as if Kalara held some great power, but Todd didn’t see it. Nothing compared to the power of Mother Earth, he knew this. Nor did he understand why Annette kept her distance from Kalara. She was as harmless as a rabbit. All in all, Todd ignored the girl and was glad when Annette asked Jenniffer to take the girl instead of him having to do it.
Todd was just finishing up the composting when Jenniffer raced into the driveway. She marched over to him with a quick step full of purpose, but they were small steps because of her tight mini-dress, “Is Annette in the house?”
“No, she left. What’s up with the dress?”
“Don’t ask. How long will she be gone? I need to talk to her.”
“I don’t know, she left to go get Kalara.”
“Great.” Jenniffer rolled her eyes “Where was she?”
“She didn’t say where, she just took off yesterday.”
“I wish she’d just let Kalara go. Who really cares about her anyway? – the purple-eyed freak!”
“Apparently our mother does and you should be really sorry you let her get away.”
“I’m more sorry than you’ll ever know.” and Jenniffer meant every word.
Todd closed the gate to the compost pile before commenting “Annette was really pissed about it. She kept searching for Kalara and going to the sweat lodge to meditate, I even had to help her out in the middle of the night.”
Jenniffer gave him a strange look, afraid he had helped in the possession spell. “Tell me you didn’t help her.... no you couldn’t know...... Wait, what night are you talking about?”
“Night before last.”
“The same night I saw you up late in the back yard? And you two... did what precisely?”
Todd picked up his tools “Like I would tell you, I’m not even sure myself what it was. Besides, you know what happens in the sweat lodge is sacred and not to be openly talked about.”
She followed him to the tool shed, “You’re right, I don’t want to know what you do with Annette. All I’m saying is that it would be impossible for Annette to have done anything with you that night because she was.....” Jenniffer’s voice dried up at trying to discuss her body possession, it really was her dirty little secret.
Todd laughed “Cat got your tongue?”
Tears welled up in Jenniffer’s eyes. “That’s not funny!”
Todd wasn’t totally cruel, he could see Jenniffer was really bothered. “Hey don’t cry. I just got done burying your cats. Their spirits were properly released.”
Jenniffer wiped her eyes “Thanks Todd. What about Seven?”
“It’s probably best you don’t know. So anyway, what were you saying about Annette? That night she was doing....what?”
“I can’t talk about it.”
“Right, so you can grill me all you want, but when I ask you something it’s off limits.”
“Yeah, pretty much. So I wonder when Annette will be back.”
“Like I know. It shouldn’t be too long, how far away could Kalara have gotten?”
“I’ll call her, I’ve really got to talk to her.”
“Fat chance, she left her phone here.”
Jenniffer started walking back to her yellow car. “Can you let me know when she gets back then?”
“Will do. How did it go with Bill? Did he fix your car?” Todd smiled teasingly.
“Don’t even go there.” Jenniffer got in her lemon and drove away.
At sundown, Jenniffer was considering the pros and cons of cutting her eyes out while sipping a soda at the mall when she felt Annette’s presence join her, Annette pushed Jenniffer’s consciousness to the back of her mind. Jenniffer felt her body walk through the mall, her eyes were roving for any suitable male. Annette found one, a rich-looking kid with a credit card. After procuring the cash, they fucked in the men’s bathroom, the boy seemed really tired when they were finished and Jenniffer knew he had given Annette more than he knew. Ev
en though Jenniffer had hundreds of extra dollars in her purse from the job her spirit was crying but her face didn’t show it. There had been no condom, no romance, and for all she knew a young man would never be the same because of her; it wasn’t who she was and it wasn’t how she wanted to live but she didn’t know how to stop it.
After leaving the mall, Annette drove Jenniffer’s body back out to Bill’s house. Bill was happy that she had returned and tried to get her in bed.
Jenniffer was surprised to hear herself refuse his advances, “No Bill.”
“Aw, come on! Why did you come back then?”
“For you.” she smiled coyly, “We did have fun last night didn’t we? I want you, but why don’t we make it more incredible? I’ve got a great idea, but we have to wait to have sex until tomorrow night, can you wait that long?”
“I guess so. What is it?”
“We’ll need your best rooster.”
Bill looked puzzled. When Annette told him what they were going to do, he opted out.
Jenniffer could only watch and listen in disgust, she felt her face turn sour as Annette expressed her displeasure. Bill had made a poor choice, Jenniffer wondered if it would be his last. Her voice said “I thought you wanted me.”
“I do, but what’s wrong with the way it is now? What you’re talking about sounds really gross.”
Jenniffer unbuttoned her dress and showed him what he was missing. “If you want this ever again then swallow Mother Earth’s gift of the rooster. Otherwise you can wait and hope for the trailer trash around here and I’ll take my fine ass back to Tulsa. When you change your mind go talk to Todd, I know he has done it and he can go to the sweat lodge for you to get your ancestors’ approval. The sooner you do, the sooner we can be together.”
The next morning Bill knocked on Annette’s door, Todd answered, “Morning Todd.”
“Hey Bill.”
“Did you just wake up?”
“Yeah. How about some coffee?”
Bill followed Todd into Annette’s kitchen. “Where’s Annette?”
Todd mumbled she was on a trip. When Bill brought up the gift of the rooster, Todd gave him his full attention, “How do you know about that?” Todd said sharply.
“Jenniffer told me last night, she said we were over unless I ate the nads of my best fighting rooster.”
“No way! She slept with you?!”
Bill nodded as if he owned the world.
“You’re kidding, right? There is no way in hell Jenniffer would sleep with you, she hates you!”
“Well, there you’re wrong.”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
Todd was confused. “There is no way....” He could hear Jenniffer’s words in his head.
“Yep, we would have done it last night too if this hadn’t come up.”
“You’re lying. I saw her yesterday and she made it plain how she feels about you.”
“If she wasn’t with me then how else would I know about the gift of the rooster?”
“I don’t know. She couldn’t have told you because she doesn’t know about it. You know she gave up our ways a long time ago, she don’t believe in it. Annette said something to you didn’t she?”
“I haven’t seen Annette since last winter when we cleaned up her trees after the ice storm.”
Todd was at a loss as to what to say. How did Bill know? Todd knew Annette well enough that she would never gossip or talk about someone’s spirituality. And there was absolutely no way that Jenniffer could have known about it.
Bill filled in the silence “So it’s true then? You ate a rooster’s balls?”
“Look, I’m only telling you this because you are my best friend, but yeah, I did. It was a ceremony my ancestors wanted me to do. It is part of my vision quest and Jenniffer shouldn’t even know about that. We don’t go around talking about our spirit guides, that’s private stuff.”
“Well, she knows and now she wants me to do it.”
Todd said nothing.
Bill took a swig of coffee and noticed Todd’s biceps. “Have you been working out without me?”
“No. Looks like it though doesn’t it?” Todd smiled proudly and flexed his upper arms. “It’s the gift of the rooster, came on pretty fast too.”
“So it’s been good for you?”
“Oh hell yeah.”
“And all you did was eat them? That’s it?”
“Well, Annette was with me, but she didn’t do or say anything special.”
“You think I should do it?”
“I don’t see how it would work for you. I mean, I was told to do it by my spirit guide, I had a dream about it and all. If I were you I wouldn’t do it unless the ancestors tell you to. It was pretty gross.”
“I bet, I almost threw up when she was telling me. She seemed pretty sure about it though. When I told her I didn’t want to do it she looked very unhappy with my decision. I think I’ll lose her if I don’t.”
Todd couldn’t believe what he was hearing, he knew beyond any doubt how his sister felt about his best friend. “Look, I know she is my sister and all, if you want to be with her that’s your business, but is she really your type? You and her don’t match and personally I think you could do better than her. Think about your drum group and your cockfighting, are you willing to give all that up?”
“No.” Bill grinned. “She is so fine though, you gotta admit. I’ll get her to come around. She wants me, I’m telling you she’s hot for it.”
Todd shook his head “I still can’t believe it. What was it she said to me that one time?” Todd searched through his memories, “Oh yeah, I remember.....she said she was repulsed by you.”
“Well, she can’t get enough of me now. She was all over me!”
“You sorry dog, you’re making this shit up aren’t you?” Any second Todd expected Bill to say ‘Gotcha!’.
“No man, I swear it! She said she’d give it up again tonight if I’d do this right now, this morning. I got to do it, man. Will you help or not?”
“I don’t think it’ll work.”
“Who cares if it works? If I just freaking do it, and you tell her I did, then so what if it doesn’t work? I’ll still get laid. I can handle it, come on.”
Todd was skeptical. He wondered how the hell Jenniffer even knew about it. Taking the gift just because someone asked you to weakens the spiritual impact and the sacrifice of the rooster. “I don’t think so Bill. Besides, I’m not Annette, I wouldn’t know what to do for the whole thing to work. Why don’t you wait until she gets back? Talk to Annette about it, she can tell you what to do.”
“What am I supposed to do until then? I don’t think Jenniffer will wait very long!”
“You got a hand don’t you?”
“Come on, I’m doing this with or without you. Jenniffer seemed to think you could talk to my ancestors for me in the sweat lodge, that you could do it by yourself, she didn’t even mention Annette!”
Todd bristled at the challenge. “Of course Jenniffer would say that I could do it, she hates Annette.”
Bill got up from the table “Well, I’m leaving then, I can manage on my own.”
Todd stood up too. “Alright, fine. If I can’t stop you, I might as well help. What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t? There ain’t much to it, and like you said, what does it matter if it actually does anything or not?”
“Thanks man.”
“Don’t mention it. You go get your rooster and I’ll start up the lodge.”
The two best friends were seated in the steam-filled lodge. Todd sang an opening song to the winds of the Earth, bidding them to listen. They shared the pipe in all seriousness, for even though they were both wild bachelors, would-be-warriors for their tribe, unattached and free to explore the whole world, both Bill and Todd were reverent, deeply spiritual, and they followed the elders’ stories and teachings.
All the smoke was rising as it normally should, the small fire crackled, Todd was quiet,
he couldn’t help but remember the other night when he and Annette were there together and the heated passion they had shared. The truth was it was all he could think of when he was awake. He missed her and wished she’d return soon. Todd hoped he wasn’t doing something wrong, it was his first ceremony, he worried that maybe Annette would disapprove, thinking he wasn’t ready to lead an ancestral ceremony. He did the best he knew how, he did it for his dearest friend, following the trusted steps Annette could do in her sleep – she was so good at them.
Todd had aided his step-mother so many times in the lodge he could hear her voice praying and chanting in his head, but none of those ceremonies came close to matching the other night when he realized Annette could speak with the voice of Mother Earth, that it had always been her, the voice in the cloud – she was so in tune with the spirit realm; before that night he’d never known a human voice could sound so unearthly like that. It was that wondrous voice Todd longed to hear again, that voice of breaking glass, it was the voice of Mother Earth that resonated from Annette’s body and it was the same haunting, piercing voice he’d had sex with the other night. He knew when Annette was speaking with the shattered glass voice she was communing with the ancestors and the Earth herself, and he was to show reverence, but he couldn’t help but be drawn to it physically; and he had been right to feel that way, the Great Spirit had even commanded him to do so. Speaking and acting through Annette, it was his duty to give himself, the best way to honor the spirits and to show his respect was by giving Annette his love and his very body. He was hers, no matter what came their way, he would love and defend her until he died - they were mated so deeply that wedding rings were not needed. Their mating only proved what he’d known for so many years. He lived only to serve Mother Earth and the ancestors who spoke through Annette.
Todd prayed “Ancestors, Great Spirit, please draw unto me.” He waited in the cool air of mid-morning that Mother Earth had brought to the hill. Bill waited with him, anxious but silent. The ceremony was not Bill’s first, for he also followed Annette’s medicine and worshiped Mother Earth. Bill’s spirit guide was the brown earth snail, and true to the snail he was slow but sure of his path, and he always found his way to the very end. He made his way and left his trail behind for others to follow. There was a certain strength in the snail, a strength that was constant and yet grew with him, only old age or a predator could take him down. He was slippery and had a good defense. It wasn’t too bad to be a snail.
The Cursed Dragon Page 14