Sarziah and the Dragon

*****Warning: If you're easily offended, this poem's not for you. For within this story, I cover some big taboos. It's like a rhyming story, not just a short line or two, so if you're in for headier stuff, then this poem IS for you! And if you read it please take time to write a crit, I really want to know what you liked in it. Don't forget to be brutal though! Your crits will only help me grow.*****  
   
It smelled of sulfur as I approached  
the open mouth of his cave.  
Ahead he lay somewhere deep,  
Entrenched in stone, until his hunger wakes.  
I gripped my sword, heart pounding fast,  
I was here to finish him at last.  
To slay the beast that hell spewed forth  
hundreds of years ago  
And left 'pon the elven race to reap death  
And to my family he'd done just so.  
 
I readied my sword, took two steps in  
before the world began to spin.  
In my head I admonished myself  
'Sarziah, it's just a trick,'  
Dragons are known for mind games, just like this.  
Pulling air into my lungs,  
I ventured three more steps into that cavernous hell,  
the air grew hot and I spat out "Dragon, show thyself!"  
 
As if from nothing, he appeared, his camouflage withdrawn.  
A golden beast thirty hands high,  
a magnificent sight,  
He sat down, his eyes half closed, and merely let out a yawn.  
'Clearly he underestimates my elven power,' I thought,  
I'd practiced for this all my life.  
I whispered words that froze the moisture in the air,  
He didn't die but his eyes turned fierce, pinned me 'neath his glassy glare.  
I held fast to my blade and weaved more words with my tongue,  
Unfreezing the air, I poisoned it, and pushed it into his lungs.  
'Now,' I thought, 'for sure he's mine, I've slain our ancient foe.'  
How he was still standing there I will never know,  
I was sure a strike to the heart would do the rest,  
As he choked on toxic breaths,  
I came in for the kill.  
Sword held high, I slashed against his armored chest,  
he yelped against his will.  
A glimmering scale fell off, losing its golden hue,  
It fell near my feet, a dark, mottled blue.  
As my dwarven friends would say,  
the sword always rings true.  
I swung my sword again with all my might  
'Finally he's mine!'  
Revenge was in my sights.  
But in a flash his muscular tail whipped 'round  
and wrapped itself about my legs,  
yanking me to the rocky ground.  
His head came near and drew a breath,  
stealing the air from in my chest.  
"The healing touch of elven breath..." he said as he grinned smugly.  
Wide-eyed, I shook my head in disbelief.  
A dragon's ne'er spoken before!  
They're silent, foul and ruthless,  
according to our lore.  
 
As I regained my wits, gasping for air,  
I fought against the crushing grip of his tail,  
His taloned feet restrained me by my hair  
"Admit it, elf, you cannot win, you know you're destined to fail,"  
He beat his wings mightily, and I inhaled the sudden gale  
He sneered lustily,  
"Fortunate for me,  
this time they sent a female!"  
 
A hiss escaped my lips, an incomprehensible word,  
My grasp tightened, my knuckles were white on my sword.  
I swung hard at his tail with all the strength I could gather,  
I thought of my family, of my two slain brothers.  
'The destiny is mine to fulfill!'  
As the sword whistled through the air  
it seemed that time stood still...  
 
When it resumed, his beastly head in front of mine.  
"I like a woman with will!" he said,  
his expression sublime.  
His tongue curled and lashed the air by my face  
"You elven people are an interesting race..."  
Fury coursed through my veins, my blood began to burn,  
This time my sword met his scale  
at a spot somewhere along his tail.  
Recoiling from the pain, the dragon seethed  
and let out a deafening roar,  
And as the cave began to sizzle with hot air, I lunged at him once more.  
This time I met the mark on his chest I had hit before.  
He jumped away so quickly, it broke my sword in two,  
Groaning from the stab, he said "Oh elf, what am I to do with you?"  
His powerful wings encircled me and threw me to his chest,  
Slamming the air from my lungs once more.  
I fumbled for my dagger and the breath to protest.  
I felt claws prying at my armor, I gasped, breathing harder,  
In my head I screamed in heated rage  
'Dragon, you will be defeated!' for mistreating me this way.  
I slid my dagger from my belt and aimed for his left claw,  
But all too late I saw  
His other arm come at my head,  
razor blades on a meaty paw.  
 
As blackness eventually gave way to consciousness,  
my head seared with pain.  
Darkness still blinded me as I fumbled for my dagger,  
the sensation hit me again.  
I blinked away the darkness,  
and in my blurred view,  
The dragon's forked tongue came at me  
"Elf, you don't know what you do."  
I watched in horror as he licked the blood from my head,  
a strange smirk across his face.  
He spoke condescendingly "Sorry, I couldn't resist a taste."  
 
"I'll cut off your tongue before we're through, and feed it to the pigs!"  
He just laughed, grasping me tighter, and his toothy smile grew big.  
My false bravado in hopeless circumstance, only seemed to humor him.  
 'Maybe,' I thought, 'there is a different way to win.'  
'If I let him think he's beaten me, he might let down his guard.'  
But as the thought rolled 'round my head, his talons came at me hard.  
He sliced right through my armor, immobile as I was,  
And drew my body from its metal casing, leaving no protection from his claws.  
"Gods be with me," I whispered, "in these last seconds I have to live..."  
But before I could wish for honor in death,  
And pray for the death of him,  
His tongue lashed at my forehead  
and I could feel his breath, like sin.  
Like warm embers of a campfire, as it begins to fade,  
I welcomed this last bit of warmth on this final day.  
I clenched my fists and bared myself, ready for his teeth.  
Instead his claw pinned me down as I watched his sex unsheath.  
Shocked, I realized just what fate he had in store for me,  
Death not by bite, but by sex, was to be my destiny.  
I writhed and squirmed with all my might, hoping to break free,  
He lapped at the beads of sweat on my neck and said "Elf, Don't you see?"  
I reeled from his uninvited touch, 'Gods put me out of my misery!'  
 
The beast destroyed my remaining clothes  
with just a single slice.  
I flailed against my exposure  
He hissed "Well isn't this nice?..."  
I shuddered, nearly naked, under his penetrating eyes.  
"The gods have given me great treasure today...a delectable elven prize!"  
 
I steeled myself against the horror that had seeped under my skin.  
Somehow, some way, I must not let him win!  
 
His tongue reached out, yet again, but this time he didn't lick my head,  
It curved around and caressed  
my sensitive nipple instead.  
I arched from the unexpected touch and clenched my eyes, hoping he didn't see.  
Oh, dear gods, just how else will my body betray me?  
 
In his attentions he had released my legs so I gave a swift and sudden kick  
With only boots left on me, I knew I had to be quick.  
I hit a scale on the inside of his leg and hoped it hurt a bit.  
 
Instead, it seemed to make him swell,  
His dragonhood only grew.  
I had enough energy for one more spell,  
this was my last chance, I knew.  
I said goodbye to this cruel world, trying to be brave,  
and then I whispered words  
to flood the entire cave.  
As my energy drained from me  
and into the spell I wrought,  
My body fell weak  
and darkness clouded out all thought.  
 
I felt a light I thought was death, the gods had come for me.  
But as I blinked, I looked around, I was soaring through the trees.  
Water dripped from me like a rainy shower, I was soaking wet,  
And above me on my back I felt the cold, slick scales of...that.  
 
Completely spent, no energy for another spell,  
I wept and realized, I was doomed to this living hell.  
My sobs alerted him that I was now awake,  
He turned me over in his claws and said "For Gods' sakes!  
What were you doing there, have you no pride?  
Sarziah, that was nearly suicide!"  
 
The blood left my face when I heard my name on his tongue,  
"How do you know my name?" I squeaked out.  
He replied, "Because you are the one."  
Speechless, I stared at him. What was this all about?  
 
"It was your hair that told me it was you."  
One claw of his released its hold  
and pulled a lock before me  
to reveal a streak of blue.  
Next he recited an old prophecy that I barely knew  
"The gods will bring the angel of water, delivering her to the demon in the sky."  
But I knew he was mistaken, the angel wasn't I.  
I waited till he pulled me closer and I reached for the blade in his chest  
Just one twist and my honor would be complete, then my brothers' souls could rest...  
 
He cried out deliciously  
and I knew I had him then.  
The dragon beast's pain,  
was an otherworldly sound I knew I'd never hear again.  
He pinned my arms to my sides and we fell into a spin.  
The ground approached so quickly as we plunged down,  
But he summoned strength to dodge the rocky ground.  
A narrow miss, I'd nearly won, I wouldn't stop just yet.  
But as he rose to the sky, his wings grew a second set.  
He let me go from his sharp claws and held me with his wings as he flew high,  
And in my head I couldn't help but ask 'Dear gods, why?'  
Soon we were between the wispy clouds and I tried to wriggle free.  
I felt his sex between my legs trying to get inside of me  
His tongue flicked across my naked breasts  
and I had no energy to protest.  
As his tongue danced across my abdomen,  
I felt weak and he moved in.  
He filled me with his throbbing, scaly sex,  
I could only feel perplexed.  
I wasn't bursting into two,  
But I felt him through and through.  
I wanted to feel that this wasn't right somehow  
But I got lost in the here and now  
He swelled inside me as we leveled out in the sky  
Our soaring flight was now a glide,  
The wind whipped my hair around my face  
But his wings held me fast in place.  
I closed my eyes and felt him plunge inside me again and again  
I bucked against the pleasure and the pain.  
"You're mine, Sarziah," he whispered in my ear,  
the heat of his breath around me, blazing hot,  
I knew I should argue that I'm not.  
But instead I moaned, which set him over the edge  
His wings flapped once, his eyes were clenched,  
His golden scales gleamed like the sun  
He came in me with wild abandon  
and the loudest roar I'd ever known.  
He shuddered then and we fell during the afterglow  
Like a bird struck from the sky by an arrow.  
Plummeting toward the earth, the sea beneath us grew closer,  
I screamed out loud and he held me tight with the last energy he could muster.  
 
The sea came quick and with a sickening smack,  
He fell to the water on his back  
Still clutching me above him  
"Are you okay?" he asked.  
I breathlessly nodded, and then his wings went slack.  
He opened his eyes with effort and struggled to simply say  
"When she is born, I want you to name her Rinay."  
His tongue reached out to stroke my cheek and I realized it was one last kiss.  
His eyes closed and like a broken boat, we began to list.  
I saw then the gushing wound in his chest  
where I'd impaled him with my sword,  
His gleaming scales began to dim  
And we were far from shore.  
"No, please don't!" I cried,  
and begged him to try to swim.  
I watched helplessly
As the gold drained away,
I willed his soul to stay.

Instead his spirit departed before his body was claimed by the bright blue sea.  
I realized in those last moments that I loved my greatest enemy.