Skysnakes (part 2)

The forest was cool and still except for the faint squeals and hisses of the angry skysnakes. Their sounds were my guide and the louder they got, the more cautious I became until I was slipping from tree trunk to tree trunk like the fabled assassins in the stories the village boys seemed so fond of.

Finally, I found myself concealed in the shadow of a tree on the edge of a clearing. The skysnakes were a veritable swarm of activity, but the few that flew near my hiding place ignored me. I inched my way around the trunk as quietly as I knew how, but still, when I peered into the clearing, could not escape the hypnotic gaze of a legend: a Great Skysnake. Rivaling a dragon in size, easily big enough to carry two full-grown men in flight, it stared at me as if it had known I was there all along. Which, I thought ruefully, it probably had.

But where was its bond? The magnificent creature was injured, one wing rendered useless by a gash through the muscle connecting it to the body. Surely its bond wouldn't have just abandoned it. 'Him,' I corrected myself, knowing it was true but unsure exactly how I knew. The thought crossed my mind that the bond could've died, but I dismissed it. If the bond died, so would the Skysnake.

Unable to tear my eyes from that majestic gaze, I searched the clearing with my peripheral vision, but saw no one. Great Skysnakes were incredibly rare, but one unbonded in the wild? Unheard of.

I wanted to touch him. He was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen and I wanted contact more that I could remember wanting anything before, and yet I hesitated. These creatures had a reputation for visciousness toward any but their bonds and I had no idea how a wounded one would react to a stranger, except that it couldn't be good.

Despite my trepidation, though, I found my feet moving of their own accord toward those incredible eyes. Without warning, the Skysnake's tail lashed out toward me, stopping so precisely that the wickedly sharp tip rested in the middle of my forehead. My vision filled with a golden-green light and my very being filled with a presence so ~other~ that my senses were overwhelmed. The last thing I heard were the distant shrieks and hisses of the terrified, fleeing skysnake flock.

I woke to a notably quiet clearing and the gentle nuzzle of a scaly snout. ~Concern~ radiated through me and it took me a moment to realize it wasn't my emotion I was feeling. Without thinking, I reached a reassuring hand toward the Skysnake and felt ~concern~ melt into ~relief~.

It was only then that I realized what had happened. This creature of legend, this being of indescribable beauty, had chosen as his lifelong bonded partner a disheveled, unsure, lowly servant girl. He'd chosen me. I gazed at him in sheer, open-mouthed wonder and felt his amused affection glitter through me like stardust.

Then the pain hit. I felt his wound as if it were my own. Scrambling to my feet, I followed an instinct that wasn't entirely my own and pressed my forehead to my new bond's. I felt him draw on my life-force and a wave of dizziness washed over me, but I steeled myself against it, determined to be strong for him. For us.

He drew back after a moment and I clutched at him, trying to keep my feet under me. He stayed perfectly still, allowing me to lean on him until I could stand on my own again.

There was no pain. I saw that the place where there had been a bloody gash was now pristine, every scale in place as if the wound had never been.

I turned, smiling, to my bond and felt his joy and mine reflecting each other like two mirrors until I couldn't contain the laughter that bubbled up in me. At his urging, I settled astride his back, hooking my knees around his wing joints and then we warped into flight.

Below I saw my mistress and the ragtag search party she'd assembled to find me. We flew low enough that I could see them all gawping at me. The face of my (former) mistress flowed from confusion to rage as I waved cheerily to her before gaining altitude and angling toward the capitol city of Lyrin and my new life.

The Key

I love finding lost keys. Doesn't matter what kind. House keys, padlock keys, desk keys, even music box keys, as long as they're lost, they call to me. And, when I find them, they tell me their stories.

All except one.

It all started the day a friend asked me to help him replace some drywall in his house. I could hear the key the moment I walked in the door. It was one of the most insistent callings I'd ever experienced, the drone so loud that I had trouble concentrating on the conversation I was trying to have. Fortunately, my friend was oblivious to both the call and my distraction. He simply handed me a hammer and pointed to a section of wall. To my immense relief, I found this to be where the noise was loudest. I struck at the wall with a ferocity that surprised both of us, but my friend simply left me to it.

Each blow widened the hole and increased the volume of the buzzing until I thought my teeth would vibrate out of my head. Then, I saw it: the faint, golden gleam of the key. I reached in, grabbing it from its hook.

Silence. I breathed a sigh and held the key, waiting for it to reveal its secrets to me, as every other lost key I'd ever found had.

It refused.

"What?" I whispered at it. "All that ruckus and now you've got nothing to say?"

Silence.

I studied it. It was like no key I'd ever come across. It appeared to be pure gold and the bow was crafted of filigree so fine it seemed it would shatter at the slightest touch. The blade, on the other hand, had teeth so wickedly sharp that it appeared the key had fangs. My curiosity was piqued in a way that was entirely new to me. I squeezed the key until it bit me, but it remained stubbornly quiet. There was nothing to do except pocket it and promise myself I would unravel its mysteries at the first opportunity.

Skysnakes (working title)

I've always enjoyed the aerial acrobatics of the skysnakes. I love how their bodies twist and writhe improbably around their wings, how their scales catch the sunlight and splinter it into vibrant shards of color.

That day, though, something in their dance seemed off. Instead of their usual lithe grace, they snapped through the air like pennants in a gale. Their agitation made me uneasy. I sighed. I wanted to investigate, but my mistress was likely already plotting my not-quite-demise for daydreaming. Again. Shrugging to myself, I stood. May as well indulge in a crime worthy of the punishment.

The bluff where I perched was perfect for watching skysnakes, being somewhat above the canopy of trees, but it didn't have any direct path to the forest floor. I chose the spot that seemed least steep and stepped out onto the scree. Descending the gravelly slope was awkward in my skirts and at one point an exposed root caught one of my braids, leaving me twisting like a malformed skysnake until I freed it, but I reached the bottom mostly unscathed.

Staring into the shadowed depths of the forest, I began to regret my latest rash decision. If this something was enough to alarm an entire flock of skysnakes, did I really want to tangle with it? My indecision vanished with the distant sound of my name and I slipped into the forest.


So, I started this story on Saturday and I think I like it so far. What will our heroine find in the forest? Well, I'm not sure yet. You'll know as soon as I do, though. ;)

The Quest

That night, I couldn't sleep,
For the moon had stolen my dreams
And written them on her face.

So I wandered to the beach,
Finding there a moonbeam
Like a staircase.

I ascended,
Dancing,
To demand my dreams of the moon.

They found me near dawn,
Curled on the sand,
Staring into the tide,
With fading starlight in my hair.


I wrote this poem several years ago while listening to "Cursum Perficio" by Enya. It sounded a lot more ominous while I was writing it. And even though it's written in first person, I really don't know what went down in those pre-dawn hours and I wonder about it sometimes...