The Next Crossroads

I was standing on the shore In a place I thought I'd stood before Where the waves lapped up against my feet To mark the place where spirits meet. Yours was of the finest gold, Mine of silver, tarnished old And they came together, intertwined. I was yours and you were mine I could see what you could see I was you and you were me. On that shore, our souls were one Until the seams all came undone. The links all fell to the floor And broke me till I could take now more. But I kept some scrap, some memento of you, My tarnished soul and your golden hue So I could stand upon the shore And remember how I'd stood before.

With Bride's fire in my eyes, I could see clearly beneath the stars and glowing moon. I traveled for a long time, trusting that I would find Giobhniu's dragon. I faced some peril in the forests and swamps. I came across fierce creatures and some nights the storms raged and the ground was distrusting beneath my feet. On more than one occasion, my boots sunk deep into the mud, lurking up about my thighs and I struggled against the pull of the earth. I was forced to grab at roots and stones, conjuring all of Bride's power within me to pull myself up and continue. I lost count of days and nights spent in the dense, swampy woodland but eventually I found an opening into the world beyond and I slipped out. I felt joyful walking down populated roads once again. I barely thought of Ailsa, Lynn and Mayra and how they must be shivering in Bride's temple. I admit that in my happiness to be out of the forest, I almost forgot Bride as wel...

Hurrying through the woods I came eventually to the crossroads where Bride's sisters had found me among the thorns. I looked around the corner of each of the paths. From out of the darkness I heard a faint “hissing” audible, for I was used to mute quiet. I held my torch up in the darkness and saw the shape of a snake resting between the three roads. I knew that the creature was sent by Bride. If she could not stop me, then she would be my guide. I held the light over my head and followed the snake as it slithered down the path to the left of me. The snake's scales shimmered like jewels. The path was rough and faded into grassy knolls where I walked but the snake kept me from loosing my way. We traveled through the night and into the next day and I stopped only to chew on a piece of corn bread or drink some water by a well. None tasted as sweet and pure as the well of my Goddess but the water quenched my thirst. Before the n...

I tell you without thought that I love her. If I were a poet and writ of her on the page I could not have fashioned her more perfect, for what words could describe her hair, black like an ember after the flame has died or her skin that is soft like moonlight. I felt her warmth from the moment that I entered her temple and I knew that she was a Goddess before I worshiped her. I was only a boy, rescued from the tyranny of slave work. The sisters of Bride found me laying among the thorns at the village crossroads. My brow was damp and my legs bloody where the undergrowth had sliced my skin. “Lift 'im up, 'elp us carry 'im Mayra.” I could hear the women fussing over me but I did not have the strength to open my eyes. I was weak with hunger and thirst. The one they called Mayra fretted about me, feeling my limbs and chest, repeating again and again the name of her Goddess. “Bride, oh my Goddess, oh my S...