After dinner in the villages or on hot lazy summer afternoons or by the fire in winter, conversation often turned to the mystery of the king's torment. Had he been a great villain or assassin in some other time or place? Had he lost a loved son or daughter? But where was his lady? In all the numberless years of the king's reign, no one could ever remember him having a woman by his side or showing the slightest interest in a woman for the particular qualities of her sex.
Had his heart been destroyed by the loss of his one true love? A few of the crueler minds in the kingdom
suggested that perhaps he kept a woman chained in his castle on whom all sorts of unspeakable acts were committed. The same few fools were also heard to say that perhaps the king's lust exploded upon his men at arms or the beasts in his stable. However, such voices were rare in the land for virtually all loved, if slightly
feared, their good, wise and self tormented king.
Then one spring, the rains did not fall. Such a thing had not
occurred within the memory of any living man or woman. The ground
turned to powder and dust and the seed died for lack of water.
Some attempts were made to irrigate the fields from rivers and
wells but the task was hopeless because the water table was so low.
The rains had always fallen and
the people had never prepared themselves for, or even dared imagine,
their absence. By early summer the heat was unbearable, the rivers
had dwindled to mere tiny creeks and many wells had run dry. Babes
and young children died as their mother’s breasts ran dry.
Strange and unknown diseases began to strike the weak, the old
and the young. Cries of unquenchable grief assailed the stillness
of the night as loved ones died in a land that seemed to have
lost its soul.
During this time of death, the king was strangely absent. After
the first few days of unbearable heat and dryness had made their
appearance, he retreated to his castle and did not re-emerge to
continue his daily contact with the people. The drawbridge over
the castle moat was drawn up and what were now stern and uncaring
knights turned away all who inquired with clipped, abrupt relies.
The people resented the king’s absence,
his seeming lack of caring during this time of crisis for those
whom he had so diligently looked after during times of plenty.
Some began to wonder if the king had cursed his subjects because of
some unknown and unspeakable offense that he imagined
they had committed. But search in their hearts as they may, they
could discover no grievous wrong acted out upon the king or his
kingdom. Besides, was not the king a mortal man? Surely, the calamity
upon them now could only come from the hands of the gods.
As summer waned, the heat and aridity became, incredibly, even
more extreme. More of the young and old died and some of the young,
strong and beautiful went mad. Summer did not merge into fall
and all hope of respite from the death heat dwindled.
Months later on day no one would ever forget, many who were too tired or weak to raise their heads noticed only
a momentary darkening of the mid-day sky. Those who did look up
were both horrified and fascinated, awestruck and immobilized
with fear. Now they were to be terrorized by a beast of unimaginable
proportions that filled half the sky and blotted out the accursed
orb of catastrophe itself. The dragon was as long as a wheat field
and covered with blood red scales from the end of its snout to
the tip of its long pointed tail. The beast’s hideous tongue
was black, four enormous limbs ended in gleaming white talons,
two pairs of cobalt blue wings of a strangely delicate structure
rose form its back, and its absurd light grey eyes were hypnotic
and terrifying.
The
dragon circled the sun three times and came to rest in an enormous
shrivelled field that lay directly in front of the king’s
castle. The dragon settled itself slowly, adjusting its wings and
limbs several times as it found the most comfortable resting position,
belched several long tongues of green flame and not a little smoke,
and then quietly closed its eyes and went to sleep.
The
populace huddled in their villages consumed by an apotheosis
of fear. Only a handful of people dared venture out. A few died for want of water and
food rather than expose themselves to the dragon. The great creature,
however, seemed oblivious to all and neither ate nor drank, neither
moved nor stirred. and was never seen to open its terrifying,
light, grey eyes. Only a faint plume of white smoke that occasionally
escaped from its tiny slitted nostrils, signalled to all that
this awesome, uncontrollable force was not dead, but slumbered
and waited for something - the gods only knew what.
The drought went on into the late fall with no slackening of heat
and dust, no respite from death and madness. Through it all, the
dragon still slept almost all the time immobile, but now occasionally
opened one light, grey eye to briefly survey the castle. An occasional
villager would venture to the edge of the field where the dragon
slept, but most gave the great beast a wide berth..
Then one suffocating, hot, still, breathless day that was identical
to the hundreds that had preceded it, the great door to the castle
swung open. The drawbridge was lowered over the dried out moat
and the king rode forth on his favorite black stallion. He was
alone and dressed in a black tunic crossed by a red sash and at
his waist hung a glistening, silver, battle sword. The king slowly
cantered across the field and stopped his horse a few yards from
the great creature's nose. He dismounted and knelt on the ground.
Drawing the great sword from its scabbard, he placed it upon the
earth. The king then bowed his head until it touched the scorched
grass and said in a loud, clear voice, “I am here Cassandra.
Do with me what you will.”
“I
never did like being called Cassandra, you know. It is not my
name.” The dragon replied softly in a distinctly feminine
voice that was soft and sultry.
“You
never did tell me your name, so I made one up. Cassandra seemed
to fit you. A seeress who could only foretell, never influence
or change anything.”
“What
did you expect of me? Powers that I don’t have? Very few
can alter the future, mix and match the color of quarks, unknot
a cosmic string in hyperspace and bounce a vector boson or two.
The warp of space time is strong, Father Adler and the Soul Healer
will testify to that. This is very heavy stuff: you should know.
You made quite a mess of it” The dragon’s voice was
now sad and almost an inaudible whisper.
“Nothing
ventured, nothing gained”, the king replied not with defiance
but resignation.
“You’ve
done well here, but it doesn’t compensate for the evil elsewhere
and the fact that you forgot me. You allowed yourself to wallow
and run although I’m glad these poor people benefited.”
“And
look at what you’ve done to them! They are innocents!”
Now the king was angry and raising his voice in accusation.
“Not
quite innocent. Humans also have obligations and they’ve
ignored them or forgotten but in either case, there is no excuse.
The king’s propriety and soul honor determine the health
and fate of the kingdom and that is the most important matter
people must attend to. Why do you think I came?”
“To
find me and punish me for my wrongs, however long ago they were
done.”
“Don’t
be stupid! I don’t punish. I redress the cosmic balance
which must be done wherever possible. These poor people are suffering
from your weakness and bad karma. How do you think I found you ?”
“By
following the damage and the sickness in the time slip and the
map of the broken cosmic strings. How else?”
“Good.
You haven’t forgotten everything. Gods cannot atone for
their evil by being nice to poor peasants, although I recognize
you have been compassionate and good. But your willingness to be
here was evil in and of itself because you knew what would eventually
follow. And then trying to pretend you are human so that I wouldn’t
recognize you! Hah!”
“Not
pretend so much as simply disappear. I hoped perhaps that you
wouldn’t bother with this galaxy backwater. It did take
you quite awhile to find me nonetheless. I’ve been here
many years.”
“What
are years to me? Besides, I had more important matters to attend
to. Father Adler is on the move again.”;
“
Good to hear! Now, there is someone more than a match for you!
You can’t simply snuff him out. I should rename you, the
Universal Executioner.”
“Don’t
get insulting. I balance the scales, redress the time flow and
re-introduce harmony where there was aberration. In all sincerity,
I am glad you had this time here. These poor people experienced
kindness and compassion and they now have hope, self confidence and
a belief in themselves, thanks to you. I’m sincere when
I say that.”
“You’ve
destroyed all that with your murderous drought.”
“No,
I haven’t. They are just human, after all. When the rains
come, they will gradually forget the worst of it. ‘Life
goes on’, is an old human saying, isn’t it? They will
remember you with kindness and great sadness and will be much
the better for it. If only you had faced it, faced yourself and
not run.
“I
know.... I always knew you would come, of course.”
“I
loved you, once upon a time. I still do in many ways.” The
dragon’s voice was so low, the king could barely hear her
words.
“I
also”, he whispered staring straight at her closed, cold,
grey eyes.
The dragons right forelimb flashed out and
raked the king’s body from head to toe. An eruption of crimson
flowed over the earth. The king died instantly without a sound.
The dragon stirred, opened its eyes and stretched its legs and
tail. She belched one long tongue of crimson flame and black smoke
and launched herself into the air. One swift pass over the sun
and she was gone.
Hours passed and the blazing sun coagulated the king’s life
and he ceased to bleed. One by one, the villagers and knights
came onto the field to stare. They could scarcely believe that
their good, wise, compassionate and mysterious king was dead.
At sundown, they buried him in the field in an unmarked grave.
The next day, it rained.
BB 02.08.94; Freeport, Bahamas
