Snake Dance

Two warriors moved slowly into the torch lit room.  The sacrifice was kneeling on the floor before the image of the Kalika - the three faced snake god of the Kukhara of the lower kingdom.  Feared for their alliance with the snake gods of ancient times the Egyptians gave them wide berth and the Hindi and Persians believed them to be practitioners of dark magic; which they were, but not for the reasons they were said to be.  Her soft linens glowed under the light and her dark skin shone with the sacred oils lovingly applied by her sister virgins.  The golden bracelets about each wrist and ankle shone in the ruddy light.  "Come, Akaisha.  It is time that you were consecrated to Kalika."  They did not touch her - only another virgin could lay hands upon her.

In a mild trance induced by the too sweet drink given to her by the priest and completely pliable due to years of strict training, Akaisha rose gracefully from her worship.  A soft smile played about her lips as she crossed the stone floor of the alter room and exited.  Two more warriors awaited in the hallway to lead her as the two from the room took up their stations behind.  Her bare feet made little noise as she walked between the four men; the only sound was the soft jingle of the gold links that covered her groin over the thin linen shift that covered her body.  Beneath the shift, she was bare of clothing or hair, her entire body having been plucked, cleansed and oil in preparation for this day.  Today she was a treasure, a gift to their beloved god and she felt so very special to have been chosen.

The two guards flanking her walked with her to the open courtyard.  They stopped at the doorway and bowed deeply to her but would not set foot out into the hot sun.  The dais she would take her place upon was in the center of the courtyard.  There was no one present save the high priest and the priestess....and the one who would initiate her to Kalika's service.  He was dressed in a plain white robe that was hooded and she could not see his face.  The courtyard was what frightened the warriors: hundreds of snakes, all cobras, all deadly, filled the area.  If but one bit her she would die almost instantly.  It would be a test to walk among them without fear.

Akaisha did not pause as the guards stopped, but continued into the courtyard.  She didn't look down, her faith in Kalika was strong and she believed the priest when he told her Kalika had chosen her above all the others.  If Kalika had chosen her, he would move his brethren from her path, and if he hadn't chosen her, she would prefer to die than live without him.  Her slim brown feet sank into the deep, hot sand that formed the courtyard's outer edge.  It was only a few feet wide, but served as a barrier to keep those who shouldn't be here from the sacred land.  The sand was rumored to have killed more than the snakes, and that was many, but she felt nothing but the grains shifting beneath her feet until she stepped onto the cool grass that the snakes lounged in.  There was only soft hissing as she crossed the grass and mounted the steps to kneel before the anointed ones.

The priest and priestess - both virgins and forever so - gently lifted her up and she was gently laid upon the altar, her arms and legs spread wide.  The altar was smooth marble that was sheltered from the sun by the tent like panels of white linen.  She could see the sun shining upon her and it rested between the horns of a crowned cobra drawn in lush inks on the fabric above her.  The third figure slowly removed his hood and disrobed - even removing his loincloth.  He was large but not full and erect before her.  He was as serious as she.  His bronze skin was not that of her people and his eyes were an unusual shade - green and yellow.  He stood before her as the priest and priestess incanted strange words that made her drowsy and entranced her.  His eyes seemed to burn as he looked upon her nubile and lovely body.

Her eyelids grew heavy with the chanting, but did not close.  Her arms and legs felt weighted and she would not have been able to move them even had she wanted to.  Those strange eyes on her body were disconcerting, but in a distant way that did not truly touch her.  She lay before him, joyous in her offering to her god, but her eyes met his solemnly, too deep in a haze to show any expression other than utter compliance.  She didn't know what would happen, some had not survived initiation and those who did were forbidden from speaking of it.  But she had no doubts, her faith was strong and complete.

He slowly moved to kneel between her spread legs swaying side to side.  His hands moved to lie against his sides and it seemed to her they moved as he did - impossibly boneless as he swayed over her.  The priestess slowly removed her linen garments from her and exposed her beauty to the sun and the man who was above her.  His tongue flicked out - forked and swift like the serpents she worshipped.  The priest never ceased his chanting as the priestess slowly poured silky oil over her belly and between her legs.  The sensation of the oil slipping along her petals and tender places was exquisite and the man began to sway faster.

Her mind seemed to be enshrouded in thick, perfumed mists, making it hard for Akaisha to think.  She blinked slowly several times, each time her eyes opened, she thought she saw something different.  The man kneeling above her appeared different, a man this time, more serpentine, then a man again as the priest's chanting drew farther and farther away and the sun grew brighter as it shone between the horns of the snake god painted on the linen.  The marble alter was warm beneath her as the oil seeped beneath her body, so warm and smooth, like the finest cloth left in the sun or blood.  Her lips parted slightly as her breathing grew even shallower in anticipation.

Slowly the snake and man merged into one being above her and she saw the shape of the great cobra Kalika risen between her legs.  Slowly the serpent moved over her.  The serpents tongue touched her lips softly and the priest and priestess continued their strange droning chant.  She could feel the words in her bones and the air shivering along her body with the intensity of their power.  Slowly the snake caressed her throat with slender tongue and then each breast was lightly kissed by the snake-god.

Her heart beat fast as Kalika appeared before her, the man becoming the living embodiment of her beloved god.  "Kalika..."  Her whisper was soft and full of the love she felt.  The kiss of his tongue on her skin made her breath catch, both with acceptance and pleasure and fear of the unknown.  She grew warmer, her brown skin glistening with sweat from the intense heat and the aromatic oils that covered her.  Every nerve in her body felt alive, pulsing in rhythm with the chanting of the anointed ones, but she knew only Kalika, her senses attuned only to him.

Slowly the great serpent tasted of her - her belly and the bejeweled navel receiving delicate touches of the serpent's tongue.  Then it rested its tongue against the very point of her delicate and untouched flower.  The slender tongue brushed lightly over the hardening jewel of her greatest pleasure and then along the tender slit that mostly hid her sensitive petals.

Akaisha's body tensed, her back arching with pleasure as heat filled her groin.  She spread her legs wider, offering everything of herself to him, her Kalika.  She could no longer hear the chanting, the priest and priestess might as well have been gone, but she could feel it thrumming through her body.  All she saw was her god; all she heard was the soft rasp of his iridescent scales against the polished marble of the altar.  All she wanted was to feel that rasp against her skin, belly, back, thighs, and lips, feel him against the thick braids of her hair and inside of her.  She trembled with the need to feel him.

Slowly something pressed at those forbidden places where even she was not permitted to touch herself.  A eunuch priest had washed her there carefully so as not to arouse her passions.  But now something else was touching her there - her god gently pressed against her softness and parted her delicate orchid.  She felt the darting tongue slide through her delicate folds to caress her hardened center of pleasure again.  Then he was slowly pressing more firmly against her soft orchid even as his body slid along her legs and pressed over her supple thighs.

If it were possible, Akaisha opened herself to Kalika even more as he pushed, pushing back against him.  The pressure built until it began to hurt, but slowly continued to grow.  She whimpered softly from the pain even as she wanted more of what Kalika would give her and take from her.  Her whole lower body ached with an emptiness that she had never known and that she believed Kalika could fill.  This pain was her sacrifice and she was glad to make it for him even as he seemed to be slowly ripping her apart.

Slowly and surely his body covered hers - her thighs and legs encoiled by him as he slipped deeper into her.  The pain increased but so did the delicious fullness of her body as his slowly shifting form moved into her.  Slow and firm his body entered hers and the pain gave way to even more strange feelings - the slow undulation of his body inside her flesh as he moved deeper and deeper into her welcoming body.

The soft groans of pain soon gave way to sounds of pleasure.  Kalika moved inside of her, strong muscles pulling him deeper until she was full with him, then deeper still.  Her breathing was fast and erratic as she writhed beneath the heavy weight of his coils.  Her legs were trapped completely, but the fog that had kept her arms wide on the altar began to abate even as it was replaced with a multi-hued haze of bliss.  Reaching out, she ran her hands over the slick, dry body of her god, caressing him even as he entangled her.

His slick dry body moved along hers and entangled her; entrapped her; cherished her.  Slowly she felt a deeper pressure inside her body.  It was strong and his body moved in slow undulations inside her depths.  Her bound legs kept her in place as the god slowly pressed deeper into her.  She felt a sharp pain that was nearly pleasure wash through her as he moved deeper into her body - slowly she felt the pressure give way to exquisite fullness as he moved deeper into her body.  Her fingers grazed her belly and she could feel his body inside her through her taut belly as he made his place in her womb.

She trembled with agony, pleasure, and love that she felt as her hands brushed over her softly protruding belly as more of Kalika filled her.  She caressed her god, the coils outside of her body as well as caressing him as a soon to be mother would caress her unborn child.  All the while, he tormented her, as he slid across her skin and between her legs, his body twisting and turning as he moved over her and into her, brushing against her swollen and sensitive flesh.  She cried out, over and over, pushing against him as his scales scraped softly over the very center of her.

Slowly he filled her to near bursting and his body held hers in an embrace that was akin to that of a mother's womb even as her own womb held him within her.  She felt his caressing kisses deep inside and his body writhed slowly inside and out as he moved against her and within her.  Then he slowly began to slide from her body - slowly allowing her body to expel his as she began to experience some intense pleasure that forced him from her body in massive lightning strikes of awesome pleasure - her first climax that was not brought from dreams.

She could feel her body pushing him from her even as wave after wave of pleasure rolled through her.  She spasmed around him, each contraction forcing him from her as she screamed, calling his name in ecstasy.  Tears of joy and grief at the loss of her beloved within her wet her face as the spasms slowed and her god slipped entirely from her, leaving her feeling bereft.  "No...." she cried softly.

The priest and priestess carefully took the great snake - covered in her slickness - and presented him to her.  His tongue slowly caressed her lips.  "Taste of yourself upon Kalika.  Know you have been chosen to bear his children one day."  The priestess slowly oiled her nether regions - soft loving touches that healed the hurts her first experiences left even as the priest forced her to taste of herself.

Akaisha lifted her hands to cup the snake's head, she kissed the snake softly.  She could feel the flickering of the forked tongue against her skin as she licked Kalika in long strokes of her tongue, cleaning the slick fluids from his head with her mouth.

The snake god accepted her cleansing slowly and then the priest bore him away.  Slowly she was released by the priestess and kissed upon the forehead.  "You are now of Kalika.  No man or woman may lay hand upon you and not suffer his wrath.  Blessed one - Akaisha - you are to bear the children of Kalika.  You are honored and beloved of the Kukhara."

Akaisha sat up slowly as the priestess spoke the words that only this morning she'd longed to hear, but they were cold comfort as her god was taken from her, born away by the priest.  She felt empty inside without him, but she had the joy of knowing she would give him children one day even if she didn't know if she'd ever see her god again.