Piety

note: pi·ous adj. Professing or exhibiting a strict,
traditional sense of virtue and morality.

The prince was deep in the heart of the endless forest.
He knew the dragon was near.
"She glows like a green crystal," the town's magi told him.
"Get her before she gets you."
The prince was ready with his quiver of deadly, mercurial arrows.
Mercury meant instant death to a forest dragon.
He couldn't waste a single arrow -
and then he realised
that the forest had gone deadly quiet
and even the air was still with the chill of Death.
A warmth on the back of his neck
and there she was
with clear amber eyes
her whole body glowing
the spirit and lifeblood of the forest itself.
The prince could release the arrow
straight into her eye
But Why?
And she toyed with his conscience
testing simultaneously, her own patience
Til the prince relented
Threw his bow and arrows upon the ground
And side by side
They were safe and sound
The townspeople took the prince for dead
When he never returned with the dragon's head
When with her, he stayed,
She thought he'd be too afraid
But he loved her too much instead.

~ ©2007 Jess C Scott

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