“Don’t lie to me. You intend to kill us!” Annette barked at the giant blue head.
The mummies felt the jungle air rush around their backs as Ravanan drew his breath. That was their only warning before the great blue dragon shot flames upon them both.
Jeremy fled fast away into the trees, his clothes were now part of his leathery skin.
Annette fell back from the blast but was able to deaden her flames into smoke. She was prone on the ground as Ravanan watched her agonize with blackened skin. She began to chuckle.
Ravanan’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t make this any harder Annette.”
She didn’t even try to get up but laid there sprawled out and laughing.
“Tell me where the dragon is.”
Annette’s laughter continued to fill his ears. If Ravanan could have seen her underside he would have seen her leathery skin healing from the moist soil. But he didn’t.
Ravanan wanted his answer, not her crazy slow laugh. The air stilled and stiffened. Annette’s smoldering hair started to separate and lift. Then his lightning jolt came up from the ground and sizzled all of her that was in contact with the Earth.
That pissed her off. The mummy sprang up in torture. It was the most feeling Annette had had since she’d died. Her laughter was gone and in its place was the dead of her eyes as she looked at her foe.
Again and with more force Ravanan shocked her feet and said “Tell me where the dragon is.”
Annette danced in agony but then started chanting in beat with her step, calming herself, healing her leathery skin.
“TELL ME!” He roared at her.
“NEVER!”
Ravanan lost all his restraint. An unleashed bolt of lightning fed from him to Annette’s chest, finding what little sap she had. All of his might fed into the bolt’s power. The bolt shattered Annette just like a tree trunk, splitting her open. Pieces of her flew into the air as the lightning raced through her body just like a river of light. The bolt of lightning continued, feeding off Ravanan’s aura. Annette’s body couldn’t contain the power as it was connecting Ravanan to the ground that was under her feet. The undead medicine woman looked like she was skewered on a glowing white bolt.
Finally Ravanan was empty of his rage. Finally Annette had stopped laughing.
She laid there unmoving in two large pieces. ‘Was she dead?’ he thought to himself. The other spellsword had ran off, he’d deal with him another time. But Annette? He had to be sure. Ravanan lit her body up with fire.
He watched the flames engulf her and added more as needed. If there was a hint of regret for killing Annette before finding the dragon that made her he didn’t show it. The fire lit up the deep night. His breathing calmed. He thought once more of his beloved Kalara and making fire with her, he wished he knew where she was. The roar of the flame slowly quieted to a crackling heap. With watching Annette burn up and having no distractions he suddenly winced in pain. He looked down at his scales and saw them, several shards of Annette had splintered and shot into his skin, all over his chest and arms. He hadn’t felt the spray during the explosion.
Ravanan began to pluck the splinters out and toss them into the fire. He also looked around for chunks of her that had flown into the trees and added them to her burning corpse.
After the flames consumed all the carbon Ravanan sifted through the hot ash with his long black talons. By dawn Annette was no more.
He needed rest. Yet Ravanan didn’t want to leave the Acama lair entrance until Kalara returned. Surely she would come back, she’d left her mummies here. But by that nightfall Ravanan felt very tired from waiting around all day and the lure of his lair caused him to fly off. He returned to Black Blade Lair, thinking to maybe find her there.
The lair empty. Deflated, he went straight to sleep. The following morning he felt ill enough to just stay asleep. The day was filled with restless sleep. He couldn’t get comfortable and when he did slumber odd black dreams filled his head. Just blackness, emptiness, it was black like Annette’s stare. He was dreaming of that spellsword’s stare! Finally he rose up and flew outside to watch the sunset.
The sun turned the sky red. The volatile colors deepened, and so did Ravanan’s mood. What was wrong with him? Nothing had happened in that fight. Annette had done nothing to him. He re-played the encounter in his head. She didn’t fight back. All she did was laugh, that laugh was maddening, still he could hear it in his ears – it was enough to make his skin crawl. Itching, tickling, teasing, reddening.... that was it, the memory of Annette was bothering him.
No wait, it was more than that. Could he really hear her laughing? Surely not. And his skin, was it itching? It was. Ravanan shook his head as if a fly was buzzing about. Then he carried the shake throughout his whole body, he would shake this off. He was fine. He was tired but he was fine, nothing another night’s rest couldn’t fix. He knew that now he was simply exhausted from the poor rest he’d been getting.
The following morning the great blue dragon woke to dawn light beaming into Black Blade, so soft and warming, he knew something was seriously wrong. He was weak and the dreams were much worse. Ravanan went to his wizard’s alcove and cast Reveal on himself. Horror washed over him, he dropped his tools to the ground and stumbled backward in shock. He’d missed some shards of Annette and now, somehow, she was inside his blood, festering in there, inside him. She was alive! And she had one agenda, to kill him. He was dirty with her! Feeling grossed out he rushed to the seer pool to bathe. Deep down he knew no amount of bathing would clean him but going through the motions at least felt right. She was all through him. Ravanan couldn’t sit still, moving constantly, imagining her wiggling inside of him, wishing he could get away but there was nowhere to run.
Ravanan walked all over the lair, trying to not think about it.
He wasn’t giving up. And yet he stopped pacing at the middle of the lair and laid there panting, taking a rest. He felt so filthy, contaminated. He could taste her! She was growing stronger, he knew it. He had to fight her off. How had she fooled him and his aura? How could she be alive and growing like a weed inside him? She was thickening his blood, clotting it. Ravanan made himself think hard; concentrating his aura to fight her off. There couldn’t have been more than five or ten pieces of her that got in, shards so small that they crawled into his veins. But how? His aura would have caused his magical blood to destroy all her copies. But then those pieces would have lived and grown to crawl further towards his heart and brain. Then once again his aura would destroy them, only to have twice as many or more come back to life! He was so worn out. Every time he killed Annette she just came back in smaller pieces but greater numbers. Why wouldn’t she just die already?!?!?! He breathed out a loud mournful sigh. His shoulders quivered in a silent cry. How could this have happened? He banged his horns against the floor to clear his head.
The sound his horns made against the rock was a dead sound. All he could do now was think and let his blood fight. A glimmer of hope surfaced as his horns hit the rock surface again – what if he could read Annette’s thoughts now that she was inside of him? There were so many copies of her now, what if he could hear more than just her singular command of KILL KILL KILL? He had to try.
Mustering his mental strength he listened. He was very good at reading thoughts and mind control. This was just a little different since she was dead. That thought grossed him out again, dead things were moving inside him, trying to kill him, but they were dead and rotten, what kind of germs come from that? He banged his horns again ‘STOP THINKING LIKE THAT!’ he ordered himself. He just needed to learn how to read the thoughts of the dead. It was a slow process, listening to your blood. It gave “introspection” a whole new meaning. He had to learn Annette, feel her. Ravanan had to re-acquaint himself with his own aura to do so. For centuries his aura fought alongside him silently and now more than ever he was depending on his aura to save him.
Each time Ravanan tore the Annette shards apart the more focused her thoughts became
– he learned about the kinds of mushrooms she knew about, he knew all the tribal elders’ names, and so many types of trees and flowers. He wouldn’t give up, he picked her thoughts up one by one, examining them. Then he found the dragon: The Great Spirit, Mother Earth.
‘Really?’ Ravanan thought flatly. That is it? That wasn’t anything! All this time spent wondering, hoping to get to probe Annette and THAT WAS IT? No name, no color or gender?
In aggravation he listened more, looked deeper, he became even quieter, he could hear his heart struggling with heavy beats. There had to be something. The hours ticked by. He learned all Annette’s prayers and chants, he learned the recipe for her healing salve. This spellsword had really learned a lot and learned even more on how to fool people.
Annette continued her infectious pursuit, her shards were smaller and becoming more singular driven in thought, making it easier for Ravanan to find her hidden thoughts. Another nugget emerged as he found her knowledge of voodoo dolls and curses, finally he knew what evil curse had ripped open Kalara’s belly. And then he saw the honey locust tree where Kalara’s Pelt used to be hooked on its thorns. Then there it was before him, the frightened memory of seeing Mother Earth in her true form, a silver dragoness. It was a powerful memory, Annette feeling the shock of the revelation that Mother Earth was a dragoness. The whole meaning of her human existence had changed in that moment in those woods.
Ravanan got the location of Annette’s hill easily enough and afterward all that remained was to end Annette’s existence totally. Ravanan rested then, letting his aura finish the job.
Chapter 27
“Where do you go every day?” Todd asked Melissa over breakfast. “And I know it’s not the bar because your boss called me looking for you the other day.”
“Out. Shopping..... jogging.... the gym. A girl’s gotta work for her body to look this good. I didn’t know you’d be so nosy.” Melissa left the table.
“Baby, Honey, look, I’m just saying it’d be nice to have you around more.”
“I am around. And you know I’ll always come home to that fine dick of yours.” She gave him a kiss before leaving to go get dressed.
Todd put his own plate in the sink and started his own day.
Bill stopped by Todd’s for a visit after work. The two friends grabbed their cooler and headed to the lake with the boat. Sometimes fishing and drinking beer was all that needed doing.
Bill cast out his line and settled back. The lap of the water on the hull was the best sound. Thinking a deep thought for a bit he took in a breath and laid it out there. “Ya know, sometimes I think Jenn is cheating on me.”
Todd wiped the bait slime from his hands and looked crossly over at his friend. “You’re still seeing her?”
“Hell yes! And things are the best they’ve ever been between us. Except that she ain’t with me all the time.”
The medicine man rolled his eyes and then cast out his line. “And so you think she is cheating on you?”
”It’s just a feeling I get. She came home the other day and I smelled some cologne on her. It was weird. Not to mention she always has somewhere to go.”
“Yea, Melissa does that too. She tells me she’s working out and not to worry with her.”
Bill grabbed another beer “You trust her?”
“Yes.”
“Yea well, I think I’m gonna follow her tomorrow, see where she goes.”
Todd recalled following his sister that one night. He had no explanation for her whoring around. “Nah man, I don’t think I would.”
“Why?”
“She’s done a one-night stand before. Maybe she still does.”
“You serious? Are you fucking kidding me?!?”
“No.”
“Why THE HELL didn’t you tell me before now?”
“I thought you two had broken up. The last time I saw Jenn I threatened her, told her to stay away from you.”
“Oh thanks man!” Bill groaned sarcastically.
“Anytime.”
Bill shrugged, “I don’t know, she is a really hot piece of ass – maybe I can deal with it.”
“Stop already! GROSS MAN!” Todd didn’t know if he wanted to vomit or hit Bill.
“Sorry! Sorry!” Bill held his hand up like he was at gunpoint.
Todd took another drink “Look, I’d forget about it. Just bite her on the ass and pray for lockjaw.”
It was after sunset when the friends got back from the lake. Before bed, Todd went to cleaning his catch. Melissa helped him so he could be finished sooner and get to their bed sooner. They really didn’t talk much and that was curious because from what he remembered of Melissa before, she was a talker. And this new quieter Melissa was just fine with him.
As he scaled the fish he started comparing the frequency of when they fucked to when she wasn’t around. Every time he would get to feeling like it had been too long since they’d made love she would be all over him, demanding it. The timing of their sexual desire seem to really match and he liked that very much because he was always wanting it to the point of madness.
There was something else different now also, she was a licker. Her mouth was always on his body somewhere, which again he didn’t mind at all. But lately he started paying attention to the hickeys she gave him, there were always some tiny scabs with them but they didn’t look like teeth marks. Even just thinking about the hickey he was going to get that night made him erect. Melissa was so very sexy. And she always gave him hickeys, sometimes he thought he even heard her purring once which he knew couldn’t be. He had hickeys all over him at various stages of healing, there were even a couple on his junk – he still remembered the heated passion that came with them, those ones seem to happen when it had been a while since they’d been together. But he felt fine, great even, it was just her way.
The following morning Todd was taking visitors, it was a slow day and Melissa was gone again. At lunch time a couple came by, the husband, Jerry, was not able to perform for his wife and she was mad about it. She had to tell Todd all about it, how often they used to have sex, and in what positions, it was too much information, even for the care-giver who was tending to the problem. Apparently it had been four days since he had an erection and sex with her, it had been too long. Finally the woman was quiet and looking to Todd to fix it.
“Please come with me Jerry, let me examine you while your wife stays here.” Todd stood up and turned on the TV for the wife, increasing the volume for a nice sound cover.
Todd did a basic quick look, it looked fine. He backed off and sat down, not seeing the healing bite mark on the guy’s inner thigh.
“Jerry, do you have anything to add to what your wife said?”
“No.”
“OK. How do you feel?”
“I’m okay. I just feel bad for her. I can’t give her what she wants.” It was obvious in his tone that his self-esteem was a wreck.
“Did anything happen to you recently?”
The man looked out the bedroom window through the dream catcher. “No.”
“Come on, let me get you something that may help.” Todd got up and went to the kitchen and crafted a special tea blend from his vast herb cabinet. “Make a cup of this tea every day for a month and see how it does.”
A month later there was no improvement and the wife was really distraught. Todd prayed about it knowing he would hear nothing, it was all about faith now. Finally he made up his mind and went out back to the chicken pen to collect his meanest rooster.
Chapter 28
Kadd and Kalara arrived in Stanley on the Falkland Islands. After convincing the Bed & Breakfast owner they had reservations and to have dinner brought up in 30 minutes they went to their room.
Kalara sat down on the couch. “Kadd, this is nice and all but I need to get back.”
“I know you do. And I have to get back to Nikhadelos – which makes this place the perfect place to part.” He came to sit beside her. “After we talk.”
She smil
ed and looked out the window. ‘Trapped again’ she thought.
“Kalara, are you alright?”
“Sure.”
“I don’t believe you. Let me ask it another way – if I’m a stranger to you that you’re completely scared of then why make fire with me yesterday? – why pretend with me?”
“I pretended because I was scared. Besides,” she grinned “you look good.”
“Only when I’m next to you!” he joked “but you’re not going to evade this with me”. He reached out and played with her hair. “How can I help you?”
“You can’t.”
“That seems to be the only thing you are sure about. I am worried about you. For over 200 years I have longed for you – I’m not about to leave you. And if Ravanan thinks he can take all your memories of me away, that is still not enough to keep us apart. I know we can get through this.”
“Ravanan isn’t responsible for this.”
“How can you know that? You know how good he is at mind control, it wouldn’t be hard to plant a thought.... and it’s to be expected – wipe and replace.”
“Trust me, he’s not.”
“I’ll trust you if you trust me, I could never kill you.”
They held each other’s gaze for a long time.
Finally Kalara’s eyes welled up with tears. She easily felt his loving aura holding her warmly, he melted the wall around her heart. “Kadd, not only do I not know you I don’t remember anything before a year ago.”
“What happened a year ago?” Kadd asked tenderly.
“A medicine woman named Annette took my mind and stole me away. The first thing I can remember was being lost in a jungle in Brazil in this human form. I didn’t know a single thing.”
Dinner came and went. By the time she told Kadd about Ravanan leaving her alone at the seer pool they were on their balcony with an empty bottle of wine.
Kadd surprised her with his attitude about her amnesia. It was nothing like what Kalara had feared, instead of killing her he was sitting near her. His warm aura comforted her, if anything his company felt like what a friendship should be.
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