The Cursed Dragon

by Rachal M. Roberts

  She dropped the robe and took a few steps back, looking oddly at it. “Well,” she said, “I’ll know soon enough.” and she cast “DRAPE HEED”, instantly Heed was on her body.

  In the soft light of her starlight spell on the ceiling rock formation Heed sparkled with dark glints off biotite flakes and the dark metal filigree armored corset. The robe was still mostly purple but the black biotite had fused throughout the materials.

  Kalara looked again in the mirror and cast “REVEAL”. She watched as her hairpiece morphed to add iolite spectacles over her eyes, and in the blue lenses she saw the same image as before, but now the object was defining itself telling her what its purpose was. The fuzz around her had become distinct swords and claws as if they were trying to battle her but couldn’t touch her. Her hair was perfectly out of the way during the fight. Then Kalara noticed the flaw, the robe on the little figure of herself was eroded and tattered somewhat, distorting back to the raw material of the Earth, its basic form and function had moved a step closer towards chaos.

  She wondered how much more enchanting Heed could take and how long it would last in its current form. The deep purple enchantress robe still felt connected and strong, especially with the added metal scrolling on the bodice and overdress. She hadn’t planned for that either, the dark heavy rock was supposed to secure the fragile biotite flakes to the material but it did that and more.

  Kalara smiled chicly at herself in the mirror falling in love with her purple robe Heed. It may have turned out more seductive than she had planned but she had paid real blood for Heed and it was all hers.

  She designated the empty display case of Silk and Cerberus as the new home for Heed and practiced sending it back and draping it again.

  It wasn’t long before Kalara took notice of Naught hanging in its case - Naught was clean. She learned the display cases were enchanted to clean their contents. That display case hadn’t cleaned Naught when she sent it back the first time because the glass panel was broken. After using her reveal spell she found the display cases repair their clothes also.

  Kalara revealed everything and every outfit in the chamber, learning their names and learning what she had crafted and also what all Ravanan had. No longer would she be ignorant about such things. She moved on to what wasn’t in the chamber, which wasn’t much, just the bed (which she was sure was Ravanan’s) and the black healing robe.

  Kalara the Amethyst Enchantress sat down once more on her stalagmite chair. Veiled in the darkness of the crevice she held the black lace healing robe in her hands and cast “REVEAL”. After the iolite lenses lowered over her purple eyes Kalara peered into them and saw Ravanan kneeling beside her limp naked body to cover her bloodied chest with a monk’s black robe. Then he held his hands over the robe and re-enchanted it three more times, each time the robe looked different and smaller.

  She knew – the robe was his and he was responsible for the artfully missing fabric – but also for the superb healing enchantments that had saved her more than once. Tears escaped her eyes when Kalara heard his voice say its name, My Heart.

  Kalara wailed with sadness, letting pain flow over her, covering her face with the lace robe, soaking it with her tears. Her loud sobs echoed down the tunnel, causing the rock to weep with her. The void in her heart filled with emotion as she released her feelings, holding nothing back and letting everything go.

  That black robe was good for nothing but physical healing as the lace was fully saturated and could hold no more of her tears which were now wetting her hands. It was such a delicate thing.

  Knowing now how fragile My Heart really was caused Kalara to worry that even the salt from her tears might erode it further into dust. Never caring so much before, Kalara took My Heart and delicately set it back in its display case, hoping the symbol of Ravanan’s love would never be needed again. She didn’t understand her own thoughts regarding the matter but knew that she could never touch My Heart again. Kalara repaired the case, sealing it from her grasp, her eyes looked instead to her own wardrobe where she had her old healing robe waiting should she need it.

  Kalara went to bed that night drained of energy. She dreaded another day without food.

  The fire pit was empty again. Kalara refused to stay trapped in Black Blade Lair forever like a starved prisoner. And it didn’t help her mood any that every time she walked by the fire pit she could see the scorch marks on the rocky ground from when her and Ravanan had made their ring of fire. That night meant so much to her but to him it was disgusting, how horrible that he had been with a human!

  “AAARRRGGHHH” Kalara screamed and breathed her dark purple fire high into the blue mist. She simple was not going to let him treat her like this. She was her own being now, half human, half dragon, an enchantress.

  By the third day with no food, Kalara planned to leave with her weapon in hand to slay the first animal she saw. The dagger called Cutter with the amethysts was enchanted with a sure strike to never miss her cut. She worried about her fighting abilities and the animals she imagined might be out there, none of them wanted to die and she was sure they would put up a good fight. She needed a better weapon and chose to not leave the lair with Cutter.

  On the table in the wizard’s alcove, the hungry purple enchantress placed several different ores in a pile then made another pile of garnets which she chose for their blood-red color. Kalara knew the enchantment and tool she wanted, but knew nothing of metallurgy save for the five minutes she saw on Jenniffer’s TV which said the metal was folded. She hoped her aura would take over that part as it had when removing fabric from Heed.

  Kalara took a deep breath and blew the hottest fire she could muster on the ore, separating the slag from the metal. Then she picked up Cutter and slit her finger wide open, quickly, ignoring the pain which was overshadowed by her hunger.

  From deep within the dark crevice inside her, the purple enchantress cast “MAKE SIPHON” on the molten metal and Cutter, then dribbled her fresh blood onto the bubbling orange pool that would soon become her blade. The metal worked itself from the blood, fire, and aura she had to give it. Kalara kept draining her magic blood, each drop was like a hammer, sparks flew and the metal sizzled. She continued dripping her blood until it felt like enough and then Kalara sprinkled the garnets onto the piece. The blade was forming and Kalara felt really faint again, so while Siphon cooled Kalara laid down to rest.

  Siphon was a dark dagger. The shiny black metal blade was set with garnets that gave it a bloody hue. When it pierced flesh, even the tiniest nick, it would magically sever all arteries from the victim’s lungs to teleport every drop of the oxygen-rich blood and pour it directly into Kalara’s hungry stomach.

  Kalara woke up hungrier than ever. She looked over to the pit, no food. In her next breath she cast “EVOKE SIPHON” and her new blade was in her hand, she looked it over but was so hungry she couldn’t think straight enough to fully admire the work she had done.

  She spit on the ground and cast “FIND THE EXITS” on her spit and fell over exhausted from the verbal spell. All she could muster was to watch from where she lay, her spit floated up and split into two, one flew to the seer pool and the other went to a wall.

  After recovering for a time she cast reveal at the wall with new spit and the wall opened into a large exit that a dragon could easily go through. On each side were massive black pillars. Kalara entered the grand hallway, the walls held sconces that blazed brightly.

  As she walked carefully, Kalara thought about the blue mist that surrounded her, protecting her from Annette’s evil spell. It had become such a fixture for her, and to think of it, she had never seen the lair without Ravanan’s blue mist hanging in the air. She wondered how far the mist extended, trying to visualize how big that first one was that she saw him make and if it reached to the outside, she didn’t even know how long the cave was. Kalara didn’t know if she would be able to see the end of the mist before she walked out of it and into pain.

  She had walked far enough
down the hall that it began to narrow and there were no more sconces to light her way, she cast starlight and went on.

  Remembering that horrific pain made her shudder. Before advancing any further she dismissed her cherished robe and cast “DRAPE HEALER” and a robe of blue ribbons wrapped around her body.

  Kalara followed along the passageway until she came to a chasm that she couldn’t hope to cross without flight.

  She was so hungry, and every spell she cast was like another nail in her coffin, decreasing her life.

  The drop was so deep her starlight spell couldn’t penetrate the darkness. But after everything she had done lately, the purple enchantress was not going to quit now.

  With eyes closed, Kalara knelt and ran her hands along the rocky ground, feeling the mud and every pebble to find strength and courage. This was her rock and it made her strong because she owned it. She was so hungry, all she wanted was food and however she had to move her body to eat she would do it or die trying. Inside her heart was the void, the uncaring void, it was part of the void from her lair, and it was a darker void than that which filled the chasm.

  It was her chasm, she owned it and she would conquer it. Kalara’s purple eyes opened with determination. Using her dirty hands as springs, she launched her body up to hover in the air. Old memories awakened within her, memories she hadn’t remembered until now, it wasn’t her identity but more like a sense, her body knew what to do and she leaned forward in flight.

  The purple enchantress flew higher, enjoying it. When she reached the other side, she didn’t land but kept on flying though the cave.

  Until she left the protective blue mist.

  The curse was upon her! She fell to the rocky ground, writhing in pain. Slowed down by Healer, her stomach skin stretched tight rather than burst open, small rips appeared and grew until they started reddening with blood. Her feet were blistered and smoking. There was greater agony still when her leg bones broke - but at least they didn’t puncture the skin.

  The robe was fighting the curse, her skin was mostly holding together but she couldn’t go any further like she was.

  “Oh please NO!” Kalara pleaded with the evil curse, hoping the rips in her stomach didn’t join together and open. Through gritted teeth, she targeted her own mind and cast “CALM”, she could feel her heart slow down. It would be OK if she could just conquer the pain.

  Kalara had fallen in mud. She grabbed a handful, cast “NUMB ME” on it and rubbed it on herself, feeling faint from the spell. There was so much pain she was whimpering. Was leaving to find food worth it? She wondered. Maybe she should just die right there and Ravanan could find her dried up body a century later when he finally came back. Ravanan. Just thinking up his name sent her into anger. She was not going to die because of him or Annette. No, she had to continue on, she must.

  A major battle of magic was happening inside her and it felt like it was tearing her up. She was running out of time to live, to retreat and try to enchant more items would kill her from the drain of blood, every spell she cast was eating away at her and knowing that fact was all it took. The purple enchantress packed on more numbing mud, and when she felt the pain lessen a little she forced her tired body into the air.

  Flying her broken body wasn’t as difficult as it sounded due to the nature of magical auras, muscles weren’t involved much. Her legs hung limply as she tried to not stretch her taut stomach for fear her guts would spill out.

  It wasn’t much further before Kalara saw daylight for the first time in a long time. There she was, looking out over the great rain forest – it looked so calm from up where she was. The black ledge, warm in the sun, felt good to her.

  If only she wasn’t broken and numbly hurting she could really enjoy it. The sun quickly warmed her body, dried the mud, and increased the smell of her oozing, burning feet.

  Trembling and tortured, Kalara looked for an animal. There were none except for a small lizard sunning itself. She threw Siphon at it and the black blade connected. There was so little blood in the lizard. Kalara crawled over to it and ate the whole thing, bones, scales and dirty sharp toe nails.

  The day was marked with horrible pain as she laid there hunting on the tip of Black Blade ledge. She felt queasy from the magic fight within her and vomited which opened up the worst of her stomach lacerations. It may be that she would die from eating.

  An unfortunate bird landed for a minute to rest on the black ledge and soon its blood was digested by Kalara. She didn’t know where the body was or else she would have eaten that too.

  Far down below was a chorus of monkeys, she’d heard them all day and finally decided to try for one even though she couldn’t see them. Before she threw Siphon, she touched the garnets on the blade, asking them to find the target. In a delirium, Kalara did the best she could with targeting and threw Siphon at the squealing monkeys.

  When Kalara felt her stomach fill with monkey blood she managed a smile, and quickly flew her broken body back to the safety of Ravanan’s blue mist.

  She landed back near the fire pit and evoked Siphon, overjoyed at seeing her tool return to her.

  Kalara rubbed her agonized skin and thought about her day. Siphon was a pretty handy little treasure, but as far as leaving to find food, there had to be a better way. She didn’t know when she’d feel like doing that again but feared it would be soon. With a full belly of blood the purple enchantress found sleep.

  Chapter 15

  Time melted into one long nightmare for Jenniffer. Every day she woke in the high afternoon and cried until sundown, not eating, just dreading the night. She didn’t want to eat, she wanted to die but couldn’t bring herself to do it. Annette and Bill shoved what they could into her mouth, from chocolate covered strawberries to cold American cheese slices swabbed in margarine and washed down with whiskey. Her body was a wreck and her mind was trapped in it. She felt perpetually dirty.

  The clock was her enemy, counting down to when Annette would enter her. Nothing could stop her, sleeping, praying, laughing, reading – nothing could trump Annette’s forceful entry into her mind. Every dusk Annette would say ‘Good Evening’ in a most loving way and wipe the tears from her iridescent eyes.

  She was too tired during the day to accomplish any housework and finding a respectable job was out of the question. She was too scared to pluck out her eyes for fear of bleeding to death, and now Bill had a key to her apartment and was considering moving in and finding a job in Tulsa. Bill didn’t seem to mind the nightly tricks she turned either, he was always ready for her when she got back late in the night. She was always sore between her legs. Her life was very bad. Todd hadn’t called on her again after he’d left that one day and her friends from school stopped calling because she dropped out of college. She wanted help but was too distraught to look for it.

  The first few nights Annette had said some words to Jenniffer, small talk, but that was no longer the case and Jenniffer was glad for the silence. But lately, the eeriness of the silence and routine that Annette put her body through was its own kind of torture. More than the disease and pain that her body was inflicted with, was the bizarre quality of being a machine. It was like Annette went to work every night but instead of operating a piece of heavy equipment or driving a tractor, the evil woman climbed into Jenniffer’s body to work another shift. It was a task, and Jenniffer wondered how Annette could get any joy out of it.

  One afternoon, when her eyes were bleary from sleep, Jenniffer’s ears picked up a TV commercial for one of the local Native American tribes, it had the iconic flute music that was actually a soothing melody.

  Her mind jogged back to what Todd had said about the ancestors. Annette’s medicine and curses always scared Jenniffer, making her want to turn and run. She’d been foolish to think she could run from it. Now she was saturated in the dark magic, imprisoned and tortured inside her own body.

  The flute music grew loud, signaling the end of the commercial and then it too ended. But it lingered in Jenniffer�
��s ears.

  The tribal medicine was real, Jenniffer knew that for sure. And since it was real then what was to stop her from talking to the ancestors? Long ago, Annette had wanted to teach Jenniffer about their heritage and blood. Surely Annette thought Jenniffer capable. Perhaps if she tried, the ancestors would bless her and undo Annette’s hideous curse on her, and in her prayers she wouldn’t be revealing the possession spell because the Ancestors must know about it already. Maybe Mother Earth would take pity on Jenniffer. She could try at least, there was nothing stopping her but Annette.

  Jenniffer checked the clock, there wasn’t enough time to drive out there before sunset. Her prayers would have to wait until tomorrow.

  The following morning, instead of rolling over and sleeping more, Jenniffer sprang up, ready to pray. Bill was passed out beside her. She still didn’t like him, but he was becoming a regular fixture in her life and she’d stopped slapping him at least. He was actually becoming more fit, leaner, bigger, probably working out at the gym.

  She had to admit, Bill had a stamina that other men did not. After the many men Jenniffer had pleasured, she knew something was up with the gift of the rooster. The odd removal of the men’s sex drive and ego was diminished when Bill climaxed, the fire that Annette pulled from him didn’t take such a large toll on him. Sure he was wiped out afterwards and slept a deep, extended sleep, but he was able to bounce back from it and wanted her body just as badly when he woke. She also noticed Bill ate mainly red meat and very little else, she was sure Annette had cursed him also, but at least his curse was an enjoyable one.

  Jenniffer left him asleep and drove out to the hill. During the drive she was trying to recall how to summon the ancestors so she wouldn’t have to get Todd’s help. Better yet, she decided to not even use the altar or sweat lodge for fear that he would find her. Jenniffer parked at the bottom of the hill on a side road and made her way through ditches and woods to the natural spring where she played as a young girl.