Old As the Moon

Merlin opened the bottom of her feet with the dragon’s tooth. They bled. He forced her to stand on the Rock of Condemnation. The rock bonded with her blood and held her fast. Merlin clapped his hands with a joy he had never experienced. He had captured infamous Lilith. Merlin would destroy her.

The Rock of Condemnation, was as ancient as Lilith herself. It was the color of white granite and perfectly square. It was a foot tall and three feet wide. The Rock of Condemnation sat solidly. It was surrounded by the sands of Tir Nan Og. Those sands glittered blue, red, yellow, green and all the colors imaginable because each piece of sand was birthed from sapphires, rubies, emeralds, amethysts and every semi-precious stone. This was the southernmost point of Tir Nan Og.

“What is your accusation Emrys, son of Adam?” Lilith demanded according to the laws regarding the Rock of Condemnation. “You must declare my crime or the Rock will release me and bind you.”

Her skin was the color of red clay. Her round face was lined with wrinkles too numerous to count. Her eyes were as dark as the night sky and perfectly round.

Lilith wore a dress unlike any other. Its bodice was darkest blue, and stars twinkled from it. The image of a full moon was alive and shone out from over her heart. The bodice was puffy so that the shape of her body underneath was lost. The neckband was plain and fitted. The waist fit tightly against her full figure. In between the fitted shoulders and wrist bands, dark blue sleeves were puffy and shapeless. From the fitted waist hung a skirt of uncounted layers. The outer skirt was darkest blue like the bodice with stars and planets and occasional comets swirling about endlessly. Each layer of this many layered skirts moved softly and almost imperceptibly by its own ability. Each layer’s color and pattern was different from all the others.

“Lilith, the first formed women of the gods. I will declare your crimes for which your life will end this day.

Sucking the breath from innocent babes in their cribs.

Carnal Relations with demons while my father was your husband.

Spawning vampires and evil jinn which torment the descendants of my father and his faithful wife Eve.

Teaching daughters of Adam and Eve lies concerning roles and purposes of men and women.

Bewitching my father’s good wife to poison my father.

Introducing death to the world of Adam.

Merlin paused and crossed his arms.

“And now I will relieve you of this.”

Using the dragon’s tooth still with Lilith’s blood on it Merlin pierced holes all around the top layer of her skirt at a point closest to her waist. Once perforated he pulled and tore it off all around. This revealed a layer of mint green and white that swirled lazily.

Merlin held the torn skirt out so that the breezes made it flap and he studied it. Stars continued to spin as if nothing had changed. He took a deep breath of satisfaction and carefully placed it around his shoulders.

He wrapped it about his chest. He crimped the edges together over his chest until they sealed to each other. Merlin’s face had never shown as much joy as it did at that moment.

“So, these are my crimes Merlin? As you have spoken and for which I now stand?” Lilith asked.

Sea breezes whipped her white hair against her face and hid her tears. She stood facing the blue sea of Tir Nan Og. Behind her stood a lush green forest.

“Correct Lilith. I have spoken your crimes. This day by my authority as son and firstborn of righteous Adam brother to the sun... I condemn you as is my right and duty and command this Rock of Condemnation to destroy you. Lilith, sister to the treacherous moon and unfaithful wife to my father. I command death for you Lilith.”

The skirt over Merlin’s shoulders tightened about him. This made inhalations more difficult for him. It did frighten him some. He restrained to show it. He comforted himself in knowing this was as it should be.

The rock obeyed Merlin. It fused with Lilith’s torn and bleeding skin. It began to creep and spread over her feet and cover them with stone. It spread to her ankles. She tried to released herself but, to no avail.

She brushed hair from her face and lifted her skirts away from her feet. They were feet of stone and continued to bleed. It was painless. She no longer felt her feet at all. Lilith was afraid.

She noticed the rock absorbing her blood. This reminded her of another part to this law. Her fear turned from herself to Emrys. A greater terror filled her heart for him and she could not contain that. Lilith sobbed.

“There is joy in revenge hag!”

Merlin clapped his hands. His face beamed with elation. He adjusted to the tightness of the skirt about him. It felt like his own skin. He no longer needed to hold it to himself. It bonded with him. He and the skirt were one. It melted beneath his tunic and met his skin.

“Emrys,” Lilith plead amidst sobs that shook her remaining flesh.

“Why do you cry, witch?” You are heartless…from the beginning.”

“Because of my innocence.”

“Because of my innocence? Old crow! Even in the face of your death you refuse your proper place.”

Lilith paused to contain a new despair.

“Emrys because you have condemned an innocent. You have written your own fate and the fate of those who come through you after this. I fear for you and those you will love.”

The stone had spread to her belly. She strained to expand her lungs just a little more.

“Emrys the Rock of Condemnation is my witness to my innocence. It accepts my blood even now. Look to it yourself.”

He pulled Lilith’s skirts away from her stone feet. Indeed it was absorbing every drop of Lilith’s blood. Merlin had not counted upon that. He well knew that law.

The Rock of Condemnation was witness to innocence and guilt. It condemned as it was ordered. If it accepted the blood of the condemned the accused was innocent of the spoken charge. But a false condemnation could not be withdrawn once ordered. The rock would remember forever and visit the same condemnation on he who judged an innocent guilty. And those who come through him afterward would meet the same fate.

“Why do you think your father hid this stone Emrys? He did not want it to witness against him and his offspring. He could have killed me with it ages ago.”

“This is now your fate Emrys and the fate of those who come through you.”

Merlin’s lost victory soured his heart. He beat his chest with his fists. He had been a fool.

Lilith’s throat, arms and hands were stone. He thought to save himself. Merlin considered that if he stopped the Rock he would have no reason to fear retribution.

He placed his hands roughly on her head. He hated touching her. Merlin condemned Lilith to a new fate that would have no reprisals.

Pain took the place of Lilith’s nothingness. She screamed out because her bones melted within her and her skin hardened.

The Rock of Condemnation lost hold of her. She collapsed onto the sand. Her body swelled. The stone crumbled off her. Her dress ripped. Red skin darkened to black and grew bristly hair. Six more legs emerged out of the underside of her bulbous body while six more eyes surfaced from her face and fangs took the place of her mouth. When it was all done a giant black spider stood up. She had already forgotten who she had been. She remained because she had no knowledge of anything.

The skirt that Merlin had placed about himself penetrated his skin, blood and bone. It permeated every cell that was his body. This process caused him exquisite torment.

It forced Merlin to his knees before the spider. He screamed and wailed for release. After some time the pain stopped. Exultation took its place. Merlin stood with confidence.

Laughing Merlin spoke. “Lilith this may be more fitting for you. Since you think yourself to be the great protector of human females.

I speak to the fates. Seal this form! For Lilith to unlock this prison cell she must drink the blood of a human girl who has not tasted womanhood and who like Lilith believes herself equal to men. This is the key that unlocks her prison.

Lilith we both know a human has never found their way into Tir Nan Og.”

The fates recorded Merlin’s requisite as the key.