Yuletide: Night Six
Night enclosed the dwelling, part wooden house, part stone
cavern, where the evening gathering was held.
Smoke spiraled up, from the chimney hidden in the hillside, rising
towards the stars. Stars that shone down
on a quiet night glittering like jewels.
Inside before the mirror gems were scattered upon the mantle, topaz,
emeralds, rubies, sapphires, peridots, and amethysts glittering in the light
cast by six candles. Oddly clear candles
such that the flames appeared to float in the air above the silver candle
holders. The kitsune scraped wax off his
snout from his earlier explorations.
Extremely translucent wax made visible by a smattering of red fur. The black dragon chuckled softly as he
watched the young kitsune for a moment before resuming his tale. “As the months turned and the Ice Basilisk
moved from Plane to Plane he and the phoenix caught glimpses of each other,
always fleeting, and always he fled, until he was caught with nowhere to
go. It was deep in the caverns of the
Plane of Jewels and Night.”
The Plane of Jewels and Night
Stars glitter their glamour caught
By crystals blooming
On hillsides of stone
In a time deep beyond the gloaming,
Through the crystals
To the Earth’s heart
The glamour travels
Lighting the dark,
A gentle glow
In subterranean blooms
Tinted by minerals
A range of hues
Soft greens and pastel blues
Lavender and yellow pale
Fainter, darker, colors yet
Blood reds and violets hale,
Pillars arise, single crystals
Ancient crystals layered by time
Supporting vast caverns
Defying grime,
Amid these gardens
Touched by light
Are caverns echoing
With eternal night.
Wandering in darkness
Unseen and unseeing
The Ice Basilisk sleepless
Persists in being
In this Plane down in darkness
Far away from lethal light
The curse inert to the power of
The Plane of Jewels and Night.
In the darkness a voice is rising
In song aching, pure, and sweet
In a stony cul de sac
The Ice Basilisk has nowhere to retreat,
Trapped he freezes still as stone
Listening with all his heart
Every note balm and bane
Snowflake and poisoned dart,
The song winds through the darkness
Echoing from granite ancient
Filling the night with music
Emotion to beguile and enchant,
The phoenix sings of sorrow
The phoenix sings of pain
The phoenix sings of beauty and joy
Persistence in her refrain,
Lyra sings her own tale
Of being met with awe and fear
Of betrayal and heartbreak
Of the slow turning of the year
She sings of joy in moments
A rainbow, a sweet wind, a shining jewel
Of comradeship however fleeting
Warm as sunshine in a world cruel,
She sings of her intrigue
Of glimpses of white scales
Of rumors of an Ice Basilisk
Of her questions of his tale,
She sings of the Plane of Smoke and Mirrors
Of a first chance meeting
Of the strange way that he fled
Of a vision fleeting,
Through the smoke she saw him
As she sought to defy the mirrors
Almost she caught a glimpse of wings
Shimmering like tears.
A soft upturn touched the dragon’s lips as if a gentle smile. His eyes glittered akin to the jewels upon
the mantle. “Enraptured by the phoenix’s
song the Ice Basilisk stood in the darkness listening. Salting the cave with tears he wondered what
the phoenix would think if she knew his whole tale. He dared not seek her though and she ventured
no deeper into the caverns of the Plane of Jewels and Night.” Still with that gentle smile on his draconic
face the black dragon ended his tale for the evening. The elf who had opened the window the other
night rose and laid one, gentle, pale hand on the dragon’s ebony scales. Her hair gleamed red catching the firelight and
stirring softly as if touched by a breeze that left the rest of the room
unmarked. The kitsune tilted his head at
them curiously as they communed unheard and the gathering began to disperse for
the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment