retreat to their home and await the birth. Glancing back to the empty sea, torn ‘tween her love
for him and her need to care for their child, she headed down the hillside for home.
Off to her right she saw the heather growing tall and to her left, the caves, which beckoned
her inside. She had always been drawn to these caves, since childhood when she would play and
dream and hide inside their hallowed walls. It had been a year since she had graced their
presence, time with her love had replaced the need to hide her heart.
Walking to gather heather for her bed, she felt a pang deep inside and knew her time was
here, and knew she could not make the long trip home. The pain was intense now and she
struggled to decide what to do, “Do I lay here in the heather and bear my child? Goddess,
where are You?” Glancing again at the caves, she knew what she must do.
As she entered the darkness, she stopped and leaned against the rock of the wall, waiting for
her eyes to adjust to the dark and for the pain to subside. Moving slowly inside the cave, she
heard the rumble and she knew. She knew he was here, waiting for the promise she had made
to him as a child ... That her first born would be his. Trembling with fear and her need to run,
she nearly collapsed onto the dirt floor, her eyes darting around the cave, searching for his
shadow.
He stood back, deeply hidden in the shadows of the cave. He had felt her soul calling out to
him, reminding him of the promise. He had been here for days ...waiting for her, for that child
that was to be his. His eyes glowed as he saw her small frame leaning against the rock wall, bent
in the pangs of childbirth. Wanting to reach out to her, take her in his talons and “NO!” he
screamed in his head. “She is no longer mine to have!” He watched and breathed and felt the
fire grow inside himself.
She felt his eyes on her and knew the choice had been taken from her now. She would never
know her child, never suckle him, coo him to sleep, never hold his tiny fingers in her own. Her
destiny had been chosen even before her own birth. The Dragon had called to her in her
mother’s womb and owned her soul.
She moved deeper into the cave, found her old bedding place clean and fresh, young heather
scattered about the floor. The fragrance filled her nose and burned her eyes. Adding the heather
she had picked, she stretched out and the pains began in earnest. Her fingers gripping and
digging into the dirt and the heather under her body. Crying out for her love to find her, she
began to give birth.
The Dragon, awed by the sight of her here in his cave, could only watch and hear her
screams. His talons clawing at the hardened earth, his eyes red with passion and fear.
He had found her when she was barely a seed in her mother’s womb. Soul called to Soul,
Heart to Heart. He was hers and she, his. He had watched, and taught her the secrets of The
Lost and she grew and taught him love. The promise had been made to him years ago. She, in
her childish way, had told him that he would never be alone. That when she grew into
womanhood, she would bear his child and she swore it on his blood. An oath not to be broken.
She stayed with him, loved him for eleven years. They had frolicked among the heather, sat
and watched the sunset on the sea and flown the length and breadth of their tiny world. He
loved her. With all that was in him, he loved her.
He thought back to the day when she came no more to play and sleep in his wings. When her
eyes found another. He felt her slip away, from him the moment she gave her heart to the sailor
... and the Dragon’s heart broke.
On her bed, her body wracked with pain, she felt the Dragon touch her mind. The pain
stopped, the child came. Reaching down between her bloody thighs, she pulled the child to her,
she felt her son in her arms ... and waited.
The Dragon reached toward them, his sharp talon cutting the cord that held mother to son.
He said not a word.
“Dragon,” She pleaded, “Do not hold me to my childish promise.” Her eyes moist with
unshed tears, her grip tightening on her newborn son. “Please, if you ever loved me,” her voice
trembling, “leave me, leave me my son.”
The Dragon felt a rage grow in his heart. Before thought could enter, he lashed out at her and
cut her deeply with his talon. “You plead with me now?” He growled. “You beg me now, to
forget your promise to me?”
Flames erupted from his nostrils, singeing her hair as she shielded the child from his anger.
“How dare you!” His voice bellowed, “How dare you deny me what is rightfully mine!” With
that, he grabbed the child from her and stormed away.
She lay exhausted from the birth of her child and from the confrontation with the Dragon.
Knowing she must not give up, knowing she must fight for her son, she began to rise from the
bed.
The Dragon sat back in the shadows, holding the child, his heart beating in time with that of
the infant. He began to sing the ancient incantations of The Lost, the same incantation he had
taught her as a small child. He closed his eyes and began to rock the child to the humming of the
Majik.
As she struggled to rise up, she heard the singing, the forgotten hum of the Majik and her
strength returned. Blood flowed freely from the wound he had inflicted. She knew it was a
mortal wound and anger streamed through her veins.
Screaming out to the Dragon, “No, wait!” She ran to his side, her hand on his wing. “Please.
please Love, do not finish this.” Her head slightly bowed, her voice soft.
She looked deeply into his red eyes, her breath stolen from her lungs as she saw her own
reflection. Glimpsed, but for a moment, the love the Dragon still held for her. “I beseech thee,
my one, true Love, let the child go.” Tears flowed down her cheeks. “Oh Dragon, I implore
thee, by all that I hold dear, by all that we have shared ... Let the child go.”
His eyes bore into her heart and soul, her mind open and exposed to his touch. The child
moved in his arms and he looked down and saw that the Glowing had begun. He raised his
head to look at her. “It’s too late. He is mine now, he is a part of The Lost now.” His voice
barely a whisper.
She looked down at her son, saw the changes the Majik had begun making in her infant and
her voice cried to the Gods. “NO!” Reaching to take him from the Dragon, the caves
illuminated with the Glowing, she ran. She ran to the mouth of the cave, she ran to the heather.
She kept running until she reached the cliffs. She stood, changeling in her arms and shrieked to
the heavens.
“Give me back my son!” An anger, a rage, flowed through her now, her own body infused
with the energies she had leaned as a child.
Majik called to Majik.
She felt the Dragon’s presence, before he even reached the overlook, she felt him and
turned to face him ... “Shakra, give me back my son. Give me back my son!” She screamed to
him.
The earth vibrated with opposing energies. Majik called to Majik. The seas swelled up and
beat against the cliffs. The heavens let loose it’s winds, the ground rumbled beneath their feet.
“Shakra! Give me back my son!”
The Dragon felt her rage and pain, felt her soul call to his soul, her heart to his heart.
“Mina,” he softly whispered, “Do you know what you ask of me?” His eyes filled with tears. “I
cannot! You cannot ask this of me!”
She stood there for a moment, not comprehending what Shakra meant, knowing only that her
son must live. “I do not care Shakra!” Her energy nearly unfooting the Dragon. “Give me back
my son!”
The Dragon began to speak and stopped. He felt the sailor approaching. He turned to look
at the village, then turned back to Mina and said, “He comes. Give me the child.”
“Who comes?” She yelled over the turbulent winds, and then her eyes saw her love ruining
to her. Her vision blurred with tears and anger, she took all of him into her mind and called out
to him. “Stay back! My lover, stay back.” She pushed out at him with her mind and he paused
mid-stride.
“Shakra, do you love me?” She spoke softly with her mind, her eyes pleading with him.
“Mina ... I cannot do this! Do not ask this of me!” His mind spoke to hers.
She walked to her lover, handing them their son, touched his face and said, “Remember me.
Know that I waited for you everyday on this cliff. I watched and waited.”
He stood, confused by all he saw. The changeling in his arms, as his eyes grew wide with
terror and understanding, “No Mina, No!” His voice choked with emotion. “You cannot leave
me now.”
She looked from her lover to her Dragon, torn ‘tween the two. Her mind touched that of her
lover’s and filled him with peace.
She walked to the Dragon, exposing her throat, “Shakra, my son .... my life for my son.”
The Dragon stood and stared. He knew there could be no other way and with his mind he
reached out to her, “Forgive me Mina,” tears fell, “ I did not want to be alone.”
She looked into his eyes and saw his love for her, “Shakra, you will never be alone. I will be
with you always and forever.”
As she spoke those words to him with her mind, he struck out at her throat with his talon,
ending her life.
Holding her in his wings, he raised his head to the Gods, howling out to his lost love.
“Mina!”
Shakra picked Mina up, looked to the sailor that held his son and walked to the edge of the
cliff. Looking down at his dead love, he knew there was no other way. He stepped off the cliff,
wings held tightly to his body and plunged onto the rocks below.
Soul to Soul.
Heart to Heart.
J. A. Stroud a.k.a. GlassPoet.
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