The Druid and the Igniad Ch. 10

"Awen is in a basket on the altar," Lu announced.

"I see nothing," Gern said, looking again to the Altar as Evalyn regained her poise beside it. "Are you sure it is not an illusion?"

"Awen's absence is the illusion. Look again."

Gern looked, and sure enough, a red basket of woven fire-ferns appeared on the altar. Cold fear washed over Gern then, for Evalyn was within arm's reach of his daughter.

"If Awen is harmed," Gern shouted to Evalyn, "I'll choke you with your own tail!"

"Come no closer, druid!" Evalyn called back as she plucked a golden dagger out of the air. "That goes for you, too, dear," she inclined her horned head to Lu.

"You wouldn't dare!" Gern raged. Every muscle in his body tensed, but he did not step into the courtyard further.

"Wouldn't I?!" Evalyn sneered, and held the dagger in her fist directly over the wiggling baby.

"The only way you get out of this alive, Evalyn," Lu declared, "is if you give my child back to me. Now."

"Your army is defeated!" Gern added. "Even now, they scale this summit. You are outnumbered and surrounded."

"You are as fleas to me!" Evalyn seethed, her tone losing all pretense of sweetness. "I have but scratched at your pestilence out of mercy! If you accost me with but one more act of insolence, I shall sacrifice this child and use the resulting magic to obliterate every one of you! All except for the igniad, whom I will sacrifice to Labolas, as per our arrangement."

Then, as if summoned by his name, Labolas appeared overhead with a swoop of his strong wings. He carried Isiri and Lilithine like they weighed nothing, seated on each arm. He touched down in the courtyard and let the women slide down to stand on their own feet.

"You missed your chance, Evalyn" Lu said, her voice smoldering low. The melted armor that remained on her limbs became red hot from static power. She ached to make the whole volcano erupt, but held back the impulse knowing that it would kill her child, Gern, and everybody else.

"I cannot command Labolas to kill you," Evalyn said, "but he can kill your druid, and all your petty friends!"

"Each life comes with a price," Labolas reminded Evalyn sternly.

"I have an eternity to pay the debt. Let's start with just one. That one!" She pointed to Gern, and a smile returned to her face.

Labolas stepped forward, and slowly unsheathed a mighty bronze sword from nothingness.

"Lu, the others should be here any moment..." Gern said tensely. He had no weapon, and he could not feel the protective magic that he had felt before. Despite this, he stood his ground.

Even if their army arrived just then, Lu knew that Evalyn would sacrifice Awen if her situation became desperate enough. Lu had seen into her mind, and knew that Evalyn did not value individual life unless it was her own. She had lost her humanity.

Labolas advanced across the courtyard with unwavering purpose. He was bound by the laws of magic to do as Evalyn bid him, so long as their contract was still valid. It was in that moment that the light of inspiration dawned on Lu. It was a stark light, but the alternative was eternal darkness.

"Labolas!" Lu addressed. "By the power that attends me, I sacrifice my immortal life to you!"

Labolas stopped in his tracks. Gern swiveled his head to Lu, shocked and speechless. Likewise, Evalyn's mouth hung agape.

"You offer yourself willingly?" Labolas asked with a deep intrigue in his tone.

"Yes," Lu confirmed.

"No!" Gern and Evalyn called at the same time.

"Lu," Gern said, "we can fight them! Together!"

"This is the only way," Lu said with dread certainty.

"Labolas!" Evalyn called, "I forbid you to make dealings with her! We have a contract! By the laws of-"

"Do not presume to lecture me about the laws of magic, witch!" Labolas growled with bone-crunching gravity. "A willing sacrifice always takes precedence over an unwilling one." He turned back to Lu. "What terms do you offer?"

"Only that my daughter be returned safely to Gern."

"Listen to me, Labolas of the Shattered Circle!" Evalyn uttered with icy edges. "I am going to sacrifice this child, and the bindings I have laid will connect me intimately with the entire crystal grove of this mountain. I will invoke Ním·thí bás and ensnare each and every one of them in a crystal prison. I will then sacrifice each and every one of them in your name, and then sacrifice the igniad, as we agreed. I will then look for another suitable body, and call upon your services again, and then again when the time comes for me to choose another body, offering the sacrifices you desire. Your name and likeness will be enshrined beside me, and you will be revered once more! This world can be ours! We can be lovers eternal!"

Labolas gazed at Evalyn for a moment, and Lu felt helpless. Her fate balanced on a hairline between past and future. But the lines of distain that creased his face showed that he did not like the idea of being eternal lovers with Evalyn.

Labolas swiveled his head to Lu and said: "I accept your contract."

Evalyn went wide-eyed, and swiftly stabbed the dagger downward toward Awen, a word of power on her lips. Labolas snapped his fingers, and suddenly, the basket containing Awen was not there. The golden dagger sparked as it crashed into the altar and lodged in the obsidian. Evalyn looked up in horror as the squirming, bundled child appeared before Gern's feet.

Just then, Arkis, Gartham, and a throng of Gern's warriors emerged from the castle. They rushed into the courtyard and stopped behind the druid, assessing their enemies, and wondered why everyone was butt-naked.

Isiri and Lilithine glanced at each other with worried expressions, then looked to their queen. Without preamble, Evalyn leapt off the ledge of the courtyard. She uttered a quick spell and landed soft as a feather on the surface of the magma pool. The lava turned cold and black at her touch, and she hurried towards the far end of the crater, leaving islands of floating obsidian in her wake.

"Give me a minute," Lu said to Labolas, and she took off at a sprint toward the lava pool.

"I won't let you take her!" Gern threatened, and lunged to tackle Labolas. The demon beat his bronze wings and rose into the wavering air above the crater. Arkis shot an arrow at him, but the demon brushed the arrow aside with a flick of his feathers.

Isiri and Lilithine cowered behind the altar together at Lu's fiery approach, but Lu ignored them and leapt off the ledge, streamlining her body into a diving posture. With well-practiced grace, she disappeared into the molten rock with a tiny splash. She felt the last vestiges of her armor become molten and smear away from her body, the raw crystals returned to the earth. Embraced everywhere by the rich heat of her home, she felt the exhilaration of the fire within her, and the crystal phallus tingled with anticipation. She could sense Evalyn's footfalls on the surface above. Lu molded the magma to her will, and pushed herself with speed ahead of Evalyn.

Though a part of her wanted to keep holding the double crystal phallus, and more, wanted to feel it inside her again, Lu let the dense object sink into the churning inferno below. Though it no longer filled her channel, its magic channeled into her. She could still feel herself connected to it, magically linked through the spirit of Fire with which it was imbued. As it sank into the cave of molten fire in the heart of the mountain, the Spirit of Fire filled the secret cave of her heart. Her mind and body bathed in an all-consuming power of creative expression, and a tessellating vision of transformation danced before her from within. Her purpose moved to the forefront of her mind, and she surged up out of the pool, wreathed in flame. Evalyn's escape was blocked.

"I am not yet defenseless!" Evalyn declared fiercely. "This time I will snuff you out!"

"Ním·thí bás!" Lu recited. She held the name of Fire in her heart, then released it.

Evalyn gasped in recognition, and whirled to flee back the way she had come. She had not yet made her first step when the lava started bubbling, and the mountain trembled. Her pelvic crystal in the lava tube below heeded Lu's command, and grew. It branched out in all directions, and penetrated through any resistance. Clashing ripples ricocheted through the golden pool as crystal phalluses jutted up everywhere, and those phalluses sprouted more phalluses, ranging as thick around as Lu's legs were long.

Lu trembled in gushing ecstasy as she sank back down into the viscus, churning magma, which splashed heavy beads of semi-molten rock against her body. A hot liquid light flowed out from her, mingling with the rippling waves like spreading roots of violet colors. Lightning crackled across the canopy of the crystal grove surrounding the mountain, and the trees, too, erupted new growth, spreading down into the mined tunnels and up over the edge of the crater.

Gern took up the basket containing Awen and ran. He and and the other warriors fled the rapid crystallization, taking shelter inside the castle even as the walls were breached by the shining protrusions. Evalyn and Lu quickly became surrounded by a thicket that stretched high above them, and Evalyn scrambled from head to head on the huge phallic crystals to avoid being crushed or impaled by the smaller ones.

At last, the growth tapered off and became still. Trembling, Lu relaxed into the tiny pool of magma that remained in the middle, and gazed up at the towering crystals that filtered and bent the sun's light through a fresh forest of phallic statuary. Her hair of fire relaxed into thick black smoke once more.

Evalyn leapt off the top of a jutting crystal, a shrill curse upon her lips, and plummeted towards her prone target. Lu tried to move, but her body was heavy and numb from the tumultuous magic that had just channeled through her, and the magma had cooled into solid obsidian around her waist. The Spirit of Fire was gone.

She breathed in sharply in anticipation of the terrible blow, but in a flash of darkness, Evalyn was seized in mid-air by inky tentacles. Labolas glided down on outstretched wings. His bronze feathers almost seemed to shimmer with firelight as they reflected the refracted rays of the sun. Lu knew he was a demon, but she recognized his divine origin.

"Her immortal life is no longer yours to offer, witch," Labolas reminded Evalyn as she was restrained in an island of coiling darkness. "Nor is it yours to take. You can no longer fulfill thy promise. By the terms of our agreement, your life now belongs to me."

"No," Evalyn said with a shaking voice. "It's not fair. I had won. I had won!"

"The truth of destiny lies in the powers you presumed to command. You gained mastery over life by destroying life, but you should have known...the pendulum always swings back."

"Innae fellum las-"

"Zichrya," Labolas commanded with a flick of his hand. Evalyn tried to finish her spell, but her voice had been silenced.

Labolas turned to Lu, and offered her his hand.

Her mind still foggy, Lu took his hand. Her obsidian casing crumbled as he pulled her up to stand on a crystal beside him. She glanced at his groin, and saw he was fully erect.

"The display of power you brought forth was...impressive," Labolas said in his deep voice, his tone husky with what she sensed was admiration.

"It was like you said," she responded with an uneasy blush. "The time came when I had to choose victory or defeat."

Evalyn went wide-eyed, and fervently mouthed voiceless curses at them, her spittle flying.

"Are Gern and Awen safe?" Lu asked.

"Yes."

"Then...then I'm ready."

Labolas spoke a word as soft as a downy feather, and Lu became weightless at a gesture from his hand. She tried to stand on her toes as her feet lost contact with their perch, and it was by her grasp on Labolas' hand that she did not float away.

"Join with me, and let your essence flow into mine."

He lifted her up with a gentle nudge, and brushed his fingers over her smooth, obsidian thighs. Instinctively, she let her feet drift apart, and widened the gap between her legs. Her heart pounded in her chest, and felt the faceless fear of the unknown as she gazed into his mercurial eyes. His fingers glided up over her glowing petals, and his touch stoked the smoldering ember of its energy. She gasped as she became abruptly aware of her slickness from the monumental orgasm she had experienced mere minutes before. She could not help but to look down at his erection, and became mesmerized by its shape, the smooth terrain of his hard flesh bulging and curving in striking and sensual ways that seemed to shift before her eyes.

His enigmatic tip nudged between her folds, and in that instant she felt a mysterious power mounting, like two cosmic mysteries colliding. Her natural magic of the earth was embracing the magic of the sky, and like the bright opening of the clouds after a storm, she felt her buttery heat yield and stretch around his golden shaft. As he entered her, she felt her emptiness expand in tandem with a feeling of uplifting power, and a song-like sound of great pleasure graced her lips as he filled her. She lost herself in the pungent, primal power that captivated her every nerve and encompassed her every thought in a rapture of instant, spontaneous being.

He was impossibly vast, and her embrace of his power felt impossibly good. It was beyond language and defied reality. Memory and expectation dissolved in the sensation. She tilted her head back, her lips quivering with unspoken prayers and blasphemies, and Labolas sealed them with a slow, genuine kiss. It was more than just a kiss, it represented a deeper truth that was a part of the magic's mystery between two magical beings. Lu surrendered herself as she felt an alchemy of transformation in her core as he pulled her down to seat firmly at his base. He inhaled deeply, and Lu's hair of smoke flowed in through his nostrils, leaving her smooth scalp bare.

Then, as smoothly as he had entered her, he withdrew from her depths, and she felt herself return from that place of no ego. The head of his shaft finally slipped free from her embrace, and he pulled back from their kiss.

He stepped away from her, and she felt the weight of her body once more. She dropped down to her hands and knees on the crystal perch, and looked up at Labolas, confused.

"You offered your immortal life," Labolas said, "and I have taken it, leaving you with a mortal one."

"You mean...I am...."

"You will live, daughter of Gaia. You will grow old, and one day you will die. And we shall meet again."

Labolas turned his back to her with a sweep of his wings, and confronted Evalyn. Somewhere amidst the briar of crystal in the stillness, two moaning voices could be heard.

"Lilithine!" Labolas called. "Isiri!"

"Yes master?" They called back in unison.

"It is time to leave."

"Can we take some of these wondrous crystal things with us?" Isiri called back.

"Now!" Labolas boomed.

At once, the bronze-skinned women scuttled over the obstacle course of crystal shapes and came to his side. Evalyn struggled against the enwrapping tendrils of shadow, then gasped voicelessly as Labolas swooped up to her from behind and grabbed her hips, then flawlessly pushed his erection, glossy with a sheen of Lu's arousal, into her undefended cleft. She tossed her horned head back in unspeakable pleasure, and vanished with him into the inky abyss writhing around her. The rift of unseeable darkness shrank, and Lilithine and Isiri, giggling with mischievous intentions, jumped into it before it vanished, leaving Lu alone.

Lu knelt there for a long while, slowly contemplating her new reality and the knowledge of her mortality. How long did she have, she wondered? Perhaps it was better this way, she thought, rather than having to watch her own daughter grow old and die while she remained young. Her ponder-wander was interrupted by Gern's voice calling her name. She got to her feet and followed it. As if guided by an innate knowledge of the labyrinth, she found her way through the crystal bramble to the courtyard. Gern set the basket cradling Awen down and embraced Lu. She hugged him back, and they wept together in trauma and relief.

After they had shared a settling depth of feeling in an empathic link, Lu scooped up her daughter from the basket, and Awen brightened at her touch. Lu held the child to her breast, and let her feed.

"What were they feeding you, Little Blessing?" Lu murmured to Awen.

"Where is the demon?" Gern asked. "And Evalyn?"

"They are gone. I know not where, but they are gone."

"Lu, what happened?"

"I am mortal, now," Lu answered.

"Is that why you are bald?"

Lu felt for her hair of smoke, but felt only her smooth skin and clear air. She smiled nervously and nodded to him. He chuckled to bring her some warmth, and put his arms over her shoulders.

"Then I shall cherish every moment," he said, "as I cherish every thing that grows under the one sky."

"The earth whereon I walk, I will walk with you, she said."

They kissed, and the crystal grove sang in ode to the love of the druid and the igniad.

THE END