literature

Slaying the Last Dragon

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Literature Text

This land where winter comes never
And the lush grass is trodden by gentle feet
The mists curl in from crystal blue lakes
The Summer Lands are home to many
Learned women they are
Once long ago it was home to a Lady most fair
The sagest women of them all
Whose power surpassed even the Merlin of Britain
Many children she bore, though twas said but one
Her son defeated the King, her brother
Her daughters numbered four
One for the quarters of the world
Their children’s children would increase the power to present day
Where now with her name I live in this land
Her power again lives through me

Again the tables are set for the epic battle
The one that she herself strived to stop
The board is set and the pieces in place
The army is ready to march to war
The King is too busy to notice the Queen and the Knight in the corner
My love she talks with, clouding his judgement
They say she is the Lady in white
But her heart is blacker then the robes I wear
Her treachery led others to believe I was the one at fault
She slew the Dragon and placed a dead man on high
While the men bloody themselves with war
The women decide the outcome

Last time I knew not my son
He had been taken away from me as a babe
To be reared by others to set in motion the bloodiest war of all
This time I bore no son to be her puppet

So here we sit on my isle
Between us sits a mahogany pedestal
With armies of ebony and ivory poised for battle
The point of the match is not to capture the King
It is the Queen that holds the power on this tiled board
The motions begin with her moving of a pawn
Back and forth the pieces move
Playing out an intricate and deadly dance
For a time this is all that happens
Then she strikes and ends the life of one of my soldiers
A drop of blood marks the place where an ebony soldier stood

And so it continues
Back and forth it continues
Soldiers dying on both sides
The board is now slick with the blood of the fallen
And with each fallen hero I pray for their soul
The apple blossom tree that we are seated under is very old
Its white petals are being blown about as the tree prepares to bare fruit
The ones which fall amidst the remaining pieces are effectively dyed red
The Earth herself sheds tears for those who have given their lives

Again it went on as such
Back and forth
Blood making the tiled board slick
Then she made a move that made my blood freeze in my veins
There before the Black Queen stood the White King
My Brother
I either had to take the King or lose the match and the battle
I got up and screamed and cursed
She was going to sacrifice my brother, her husband, the King
For What
To extend the match for another few rounds
She knew she had been losing
This was a war to steal my Love from me
For her there was nothing to lose
For me, everything
My only family
And the man I loved
She laughed, to her, this was but a game
But here in the Summer Land
Where the magic and the mysteries of the world run deep
A land not in reality but outside Faerie
A simple match like this can make changes in reality
This one was to decide the outcome of the epic battle
She knew she would die as a result of the match if she lost
So seeing her impending doom she would deal me a blow

Through my ranting I heard my brother’s soul

Let you and he be happy
The days of the glittering courts are once again over
With my given blood the chain is broken
Never again will we live in such tragedy

My brother’s words ran through my being
His willing sacrifice was a magic that would break us from this evil curse
Slowly lowering myself to the cushion
I gathered my resolve
Plucking the Black Queen from her position
Her blood soaked base dripped with life of the fallen
With shaking hands
With tears and a sob
I moved her to the King’s square

A great cry was heard throughout the land as my brother’s blood fell to the earth
The King was deadYet again as a result of my flesh
Tears slid down my checks as I clutched the blood splattered White King to my breast
My hands were covered in the blood of my kin
And through my tears I saw the Queen shed a single tear
Perhaps she still loved my brother enough to mourn his death
Tucking the King in the folds of my gown
Whipping the tears from my heavy eyes
We resumed the match

The Ivory Queen fell
The board was so coated with blood of many
Only the deep red of life showed
It would have to be burned, lest it become cursed
Its pieces buried as tribute to those who fell
Some whose names I knew, others I did not

The Queen stood up
Her white gown splattered with the blood of the dripping board
With a ghost of a smile she nodded to me
Her gown trailed behind her; she turned and began to walk away
As I stopped her I placed something in her hand
She looked down at the Blood soaked White Queen that had lost all her purity
She stared at it a moment
Then clutching my hand in hers, the Queen to her breast, she smiles
The first smile I had ever seen on her face
Letting go of my hand
She turned and walked into a direction of the lake
A shiver ran through the air as the mists swallowed her up
My sister-in-law
A woman who was never truly happy was now at rest
She was no longer in existence

With heavy heart I turned to the hardest task
The men of the marsh readied the barge
The barge made not a sound as it passed over the waters through the mists
Carrying me to the banks of reality
There waiting for me was the hopes and fears of my dreams

My Love stands on the bank beside his charger
Changed, yet still the same man I fell in love with all those years ago
Once the White Knight of the High Court
He is now the Champion of the Summer Lands
The Black Knight
He has set aside the White colours of my teacher
The Lady of the Lake, his Mother
Now my station
Tears roll from my cheeks as we embrace

Beside him, on a cart, lays the nightmare
Wrapped in the Red velvet of his station
Wrapped from head to foot
His sword, the fabled Sword of Truth, lay across his chest
My brother, the King
The King lay dead
All pretences of my High station seemed to fall away
Again I was a simple girl
Clutching her brother
Her dead brother
And grieving
Peeling back the cloth I kissed the frozen lifeless lips of my baby brother
I knew not how long I clutched and wept

Eventually I regained control and became the Lady of the Lake once more
Once again the barge
Carrying its precious cargo to the most Holiest of Lands
Everyone gathered in mourning
The young and old
Come to bring the King home once more
Young men carried the corpse to the pyre
My Love I gave the Sword
As his mother had give it to my brother

A hushed silence filled the expanse of all the worlds
Back to the Dawn of Time and as far stretched to the unending Future
Then, like the clearest instant my voice rang out

Mourn not my children
The flesh houses no longer our beloved King
Celebrate rather his sacrifice
A sacrifice that has freed us from Darkness
Go now my children and be merry
For the dawn of a new age has begun

A euphony of voices rang out
Cheering to the night
Praising the fallen King as they descended the Tor
All into the night they went
To begin the celebration of the dead

By the light of the torch that my Love carried aloft
A beacon of purity that seemed to drive away the darkness
The White King emerged from the folds of my robe
With shaking hands I placed it on the red velvet
Touching the fabric
Fleeting images of long lost childhood flooded back

The smooth hardness of the torch felt alien in my hand
With but a simple glance
My Love told me he would shoulder the burden
He died by my hand
Now I would lay him to rest

Leaping, the flames grew higher and higher
As the flames consumed the body of the King
Deep magic shifted
Like a great shock
Passing over everything
The image before my eyes sharpened
Clarity like looking through a crystal
The Summer Lands have been drifting away for an eternity
From the harsh reality, that it had become a Holy Land
The Sacrifice of the King has pushed it further to Faerie

Time dilated
Generations will pass before I grow a year
Now they will only be a dream to the outside world

The dragons danced in fire light around my Love’s wrists
Our fingers entwined
We walked into eternity
Through us, the Dragon will live again.
I started writing this poem for my Creative Process class. It was going to be something that was maybe a little more then a page. But somehow it turned into a five page thing. I like it very much, it's kind of a retelling of the last battle of the Arturian Legends, but only in the sence that it happened again. Very confussing I know. The characters are a bit different then what the average reader has been reading forever but i find that's what gives it the added twist.
Enjoy
© 2007 - 2024 Morgaine-le-Fay
Comments1
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Jaive-Nova's avatar
Hey awesome! Loved it! Especially how you used and described the chess game (I think I liked it the most because of its metaphorical implications). Its more like a balled then a poem, but filled with rich imagery. A little unclear at some points but overall, really interesting and epic/ myth like in nature. Keep up the great work!!