I wanted a Coke, but all I got was Ginger…
What a waist…
I wanted a Coke, but all I got was Ginger…
Category: Fantasy
She Battles Him
She battles him
when war is done,
and whether win or lose,
when her blood is high and hot,
she climbs
the mountains of his thighs,
heedless of wounds,
heedless of weapons,
And pulls him to
new heights of
painful ecstasy.
Lustful as any warrior
he’s ever faced,
and more deadly
for the love she bears,
his flesh is claimed
as a trophy of
love’s war,
empty of seed,
but not of life.
There Are No Monsters Here
Knock-knock
within your closet
child
There are no monsters here
Knock-knock
beneath your bed
my child
There are no monsters here
Knock-knock
upon your dreams
dear child
There are no monsters here
They’re all inside your head
my child
That’s where the monsters dwell
I promise in the morning
child
you’ll find them in the well,
For there they find
the entryway back into
childhood’s hell.
The Ice-Blue King
I see him on the throne
in this cavernous hall,
alone, utterly alone,
as all around him slowly chips away,
and crumbles,
and dies.
He waits, but not for me.
A longing puts an aura round him
and fills the hollow alcove
with a shimmering
sky-blue burst.
Breath becomes ice crystals,
and flesh becomes blue,
but he is waiting
for something, or someone,
somehow still living
in the crippling, crumbling
cold now draped about him
like a royal robe
There will be no spring thaw
of his ice blue gaze,
no warming of his iron blue heart,
no budding blossom of love.
His wrath will fall,
hard and cold
as his kingdom,
when his people return…
if they return…
if they ever return…
before the castle
crumbles, and collapses
on the crown of
the ice-blue king.
Melchora’s Spells
Melchora’s spells
enrapture me
capture me
sap me of strength
and will
to defy the
tidal pull
of her lunar love
Melchora’s spells
bind me
blind me
and find me helpless
at the base of her heart
Melchora’s spells
lift me
gift me
and seal the rift
between my need
and her mind
Melchora’s spells
smell of lilac and lavender
and honey and ginger
as I breathe deeply and
my soul turns
to ashes and smoke
Melchora’s spells
are vital
and gentle
and my reason’s reality
is contained between her hands
And I want to look away,
And I want to walk away,
And I want to be away
from her,
But that too, is part of
Melchora’s spells….
And Yet He Guards the Ruined World
And yet he guards the ruined world,
hearing echoes of long-dead men,
the clang and rattle of long buried swords,
the screams and moans of pleasure and pain.
He smells the candles in the temple,
And the perfumes of the maidens,
And the poisons of the traitors,
And the flesh he’s burned in battle.
The laughter of the children rings
through the cavernous passages.
The hawking of wares in the marketplace
shout in abandoned streets.
He is king over ashes,
and ruler of rubble,
with broken towers his castle,
and cracked and blackened bones his subjects.
The scavengers that remain
give him obeisance, and
bow and scrape for leave to
hunt scraps.
But on the watching wall he stands,
constant as the cosmos,
unyielding as stone,
unchanging as what has been
written before…
Unfettered, he is free to fly
and soar and kill and burn
And yet he guards the ruined world,
Until it stops to turn
Apocrypha
Lost in the mist, she came to my rescue.
Follow me.
It was the voice of a being
far above angels, and deep as the grave.
To where?
I followed, not knowing, but willing.
To love. To life.
The mist thickened around us.
But I’m lost. Do we go to my destination?
She turned to look at me with silver eyes.
We go, my love, to where you need to be.
I followed, not blindly, but knowingly.
I wish to leave. I’m frightened.
The mist hid her from view.
Follow, and I will comfort you.
I followed blindly.
Give me your hand.
I took her hand, and she led me…
Do you love me?
I followed.
How can I?
She stopped.
You simply decide.
She kissed me.
I’m lost.
Light Upon Me Here
Light upon me here,
and give me kisses
and wishes,
and the essence
of dreams of longing
long unfulfilled
Give me the plunder of legends
you’ve carved in runes on ancient trunks,
and whispered
’round eventide’s eldritch fires
Show me the paths through trees
older than the tongues of men,
and the dusky hiding places of the
demi-goddesses.
And in the niche
of night’s knowledge,
In the enchantment of the
encampment you inhabit,
Let me be no Stranger,
nor Harbinger,
but Lover,
and light upon me
Here
Dance You Now Before Me, Spirit?
Dance you now before me, spirit?
Trickery do you now devise,
that you would take my lover’s form
and bring new grief to heart and eyes?
Dance you now before me, spirit?
Lovely was she, when the dance
would her effervescent nature
make her leap and spin and prance.
Dance you now before me, spirit,
knowing she has gone away,
taking life and laughter with her,
holding me no more in sway?
Dance you now before me, spirit?
Leave me now and put to flight
Frilly lace and fragile gossamer,
And my heart she held so tight.
Dance no longer with me, spirit.
Music, broken, plays no more.
Dance into benighted moonlight,
Leave me here, on love’s dark shore.
Dance into benighted moonlight.
Leave me here, on love’s dark shore.
The Breaking of Chrystal Belle
“Is she dead?”
“Mostly.”
“Why not completely?”
“I’m not finished; you said to prolong it.”
“It’s been prolonged enough. Finish it.”
“She’s said nothing. If I finish it, you’ll get nothing.”
“It’s been three hours. You’ve done everything but…”
“I could do that. She’d need to be cleaned up first, but I can do it.”
“Would you? Would you really? Even now?”
“Why not?”
He looked at me a long moment.
“You’re going to tell me I’m a monster? A fiend? A devil?”
“No.”
“ ‘No’,” I imitated his voice, “ ‘I’m just going to think it.’ Right?”
“I…I’ll leave you to your work.”
“Ha! It’s your work, wizard; I’m just the tool you’re using.”
That stopped him in his tracks, but he didn’t turn around, and after a heartbeat or two, walked out.
I went back to work.
****************
“You heard him, Chrystal?”
Her voice was raspy from screaming and the smoky torches, deliberately dabbed in something to make them so.
She nodded.
I leaned in close: “He doesn’t care if I kill you. Do you?”
She nodded again.
“I’m going to take off the gag, all right? Just tell me what I need to know.”
She gasped, and I gave her some water to wet her throat, clean the blood, and deceive her into thinking I just might be merciful.
“Where are the others?”
“He told you to rape me.”
“Yes.”
“You told him you would, if he wanted.”
“Yes.”
She paused a moment, then said “What if I said you didn’t have to force me?”
I smiled in shocked amusement at her pluck.
“Do you think I’m so easily bought? I could have you whether he granted me permission or not.”
She gave a smile of her own, red rimmed as it was. “You know that’s not true.”
Interesting. It had been a statement meant to rattle her.
“You’re stalling, Chrystal. When he returns, he expects me to hand him your corpse.”
“You’ve broken me up inside already, and what have you gained?”
“I told him that, but I believe you know where the rest of your kind is hiding, and…”
I picked up a branding iron, spit on it to let her hear the sizzling hiss.
“I would so hate to ruin that lovely face.”
“Do it. I don’t know where they’re hiding, and it no longer matters.”
I took off the hooded mask I wore, and she flinched at my appearance.
Walking toward her now, I saw her shrink back, and I smiled, which made her flinch even more.
“Before I do…”
Gripping her chin, I forced her lips to mine a long moment, heard her retch in her throat, and I stuffed the gag back in, and jammed the brand onto her thigh.
As she thrashed against the bonds and screamed behind the gag, a thought occurred to me.
Maybe I am going soft…
*****************
The pain shooting me through me made me drop the brand, as if I’d burned myself with it.
Chrystal was still kicking a bit, her eyes watery, and mucus and saliva pooling around the gag made her unlovely.
I knew immediately where I’d made my mistake, and I could torture her no longer; everything I did to her, I would now feel. Already I could see bruises appearing, feel the aches she felt, saw the cuts I’d made on her now slice my own skin open and weep with blood.
I could see the brand on my own leg.
Her eyes were still defiant, and if I weren’t going to go blind in the doing, I would’ve gouged them out with my thumbs.
The gag dissolved, and her smile had that same smarmy slyness when she told me I couldn’t have her without permission.
“Free me. Now.”
“You marked me.”
“You marked yourself with your lust, Bressal. You knew, or said you did, of our powers.”
I freed her.
“Are you going to kill me?” I asked her.
“No. You’re going to kill the wizard for me. When he comes, don’t bother dragging it out.”
She walked over to my array of bloodletting toys, and picked out an axe, one I’d trusted through the years for other duties, but it was somewhat dull now, as I’d not used it in some time.
I bowed my head in defeat.
“Put this through his skull,” she said.
“It’s dull.” I could no longer meet her eyes.
She laughed. “As are you. My husband has made his choice, now I’ve made mine. Strike as many times as you have to; I’ll be back to see what you’ve done.”
Her eyes narrowed, and I felt something like a fist around my heart.
“And if I see no body, Bressal, I’ll know you’ve betrayed me, and make you wish you were never born.”
The fist let go.
I didn’t like being threatened. She’d bested me, and now felt emboldened to boast.
“We will one day have reckoning,” I said to her retreating back. “I will break this spell, and then you, Chrystal, into shards of bad memories your husband’s maid will sweep under thick carpets.
“My ruined face will be the last thing you see, my kiss the last thing you feel, as I take your womanhood along with your life.”
The door shut on my tirade.
I wiped at the tears in my eyes that baptized me into her service, but I couldn’t stop them, and decided to blame it on the acrid torches.
Then I took the axe, put it across my lap, and waited.
Beyond Panic 