The Death of Cadmus
Oct. 16th, 2008 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tinhuvielI've been making some notes about this since day before yesterday. I'm not really clear on how the relics are used to kill Cadmus, but I know that they must and that do. I'm just not sure that I'll ever get all the stuff written from where I am to where I need to be. So, as with most of the books I read, I'm skipping to the end just because.
It's inevitable, I suppose. My most feared and most precious child is destined to be conquered, not necessarily by good, but by something not nearly as bad as he. And, with his death, perhaps my own phobias and my own fear of death will wash away and bring me some semblance of peace. Just as the Cadmus of legend slew his dragon, so too must I slay my own dragon-chylde.
I find it sadly appropriate that the song being played at the time of this post is the one The Mother Unit used to sing to me when I was a kidlet. Mothers, how your children do stray....
It's inevitable, I suppose. My most feared and most precious child is destined to be conquered, not necessarily by good, but by something not nearly as bad as he. And, with his death, perhaps my own phobias and my own fear of death will wash away and bring me some semblance of peace. Just as the Cadmus of legend slew his dragon, so too must I slay my own dragon-chylde.
Kelat couldn't believe Cadmus' eyes could have ever gotten wider or more beautiful, but both impossible rhapsodies had occurred simultaneously.
"Mother." That was all he could say as the combined magicks of the chalice, crown, and augury began to work on his prone form. Kelat was there, although perhaps Cadmus could not see her, his vision waxing and waning with the ebb and flow of the relics' vibration. She knelt beside her son, cradled his pale and fragile head in her lap. "I'm here, Cadmar Goidelica. I am here."
"Not my name."
"Yes, son, it is. Reclaim who you were before the pain, before the defilement and desecration. Reclaim who you are, the last living Elf child walking among the sons of men."
It was as though the whole of Creation shimmered in Cadmus' eyes, which had so long been black holes, eating away at perception nd exacting death upon any light that deigned to flicker across Cadmus' line of sight. A softening could be seen in his face as he said, "Do you think...anything lies beyond our realm of Knowing, Mother?"
"Of that I am certain, Cadmar."
"And do you think there may be a place for me in those lands? What - what do you call them? The Land of Filigree, the Summerlands, the Otherworld?"
"Most assuredly. And not one of eternal torment so often used as a threat by the Apostate. I have no doubt," and Kelat stopped to collect herself before continuing. She didn't want Cadmus to hear the tears in her voice, tears she would shed in abundance for the son she'd never had the joy of birthing, raising....loving. She swallowed heavily. "I have no doubt that, after you've made your peace with yourself, you will find a place of honour among the Ancestors."
Cadmus cut his eyes to Kelat and she knew that he could see her, and she felt that old, feral spirit she'd encountered in the desert so long ago. "Your fantasies amuse me to the very end, O Mother of M- ."
His chiding remark was cut short by his body contorting in reaction to the relics' work. And then silence. Kelat let her gaze flicker across her son's face, peaceful perhaps for the very first time in his nightmare life. A tear fell upon his cheek and Kelat brushed away her endless grief with a single, deliberate finger. "My wayward child," she said, her voice carried by the winds of the night and echoed by the lonely peent-peent of the nimble nighthawk.
"Mother." That was all he could say as the combined magicks of the chalice, crown, and augury began to work on his prone form. Kelat was there, although perhaps Cadmus could not see her, his vision waxing and waning with the ebb and flow of the relics' vibration. She knelt beside her son, cradled his pale and fragile head in her lap. "I'm here, Cadmar Goidelica. I am here."
"Not my name."
"Yes, son, it is. Reclaim who you were before the pain, before the defilement and desecration. Reclaim who you are, the last living Elf child walking among the sons of men."
It was as though the whole of Creation shimmered in Cadmus' eyes, which had so long been black holes, eating away at perception nd exacting death upon any light that deigned to flicker across Cadmus' line of sight. A softening could be seen in his face as he said, "Do you think...anything lies beyond our realm of Knowing, Mother?"
"Of that I am certain, Cadmar."
"And do you think there may be a place for me in those lands? What - what do you call them? The Land of Filigree, the Summerlands, the Otherworld?"
"Most assuredly. And not one of eternal torment so often used as a threat by the Apostate. I have no doubt," and Kelat stopped to collect herself before continuing. She didn't want Cadmus to hear the tears in her voice, tears she would shed in abundance for the son she'd never had the joy of birthing, raising....loving. She swallowed heavily. "I have no doubt that, after you've made your peace with yourself, you will find a place of honour among the Ancestors."
Cadmus cut his eyes to Kelat and she knew that he could see her, and she felt that old, feral spirit she'd encountered in the desert so long ago. "Your fantasies amuse me to the very end, O Mother of M- ."
His chiding remark was cut short by his body contorting in reaction to the relics' work. And then silence. Kelat let her gaze flicker across her son's face, peaceful perhaps for the very first time in his nightmare life. A tear fell upon his cheek and Kelat brushed away her endless grief with a single, deliberate finger. "My wayward child," she said, her voice carried by the winds of the night and echoed by the lonely peent-peent of the nimble nighthawk.
I find it sadly appropriate that the song being played at the time of this post is the one The Mother Unit used to sing to me when I was a kidlet. Mothers, how your children do stray....
